Rann

Rann is a planet that features in DC Comics.

History

Pre-Crisis

Alongside Rann was its sister-world of Anthorann that also orbited Alpha Centauri. (Showcase v1 #17)

In its prehistoric era, the planet was dominated by giant lizards similar to the dinosaurs of Earth. (Mystery in Space v1 #62) Thousands of years ago, two species evolved on the planet Rann with one being the human-like Rannians and the other being a blue-skinned race of savages known as the Kirri. The two races would engage in fighting for dominance of their world with the Rannians managing to defeating the Kirri where it was believed that they had all gone extinct though the blue skinned species managed to flee into underground ice caverns. (Mystery in Space v1 #69) A billion years ago, the early predecessors of modern Rannians was a hair sasquatch-like creature that encountered an evil scientist by the name of Carlon Zan. Zan was a tyrant who intended to become the ruler of the planet leading to the early Rannians banishing him from their world where he was exiled into a rocket into space. Unknown to anyone, Zan entered into a time warp where he was bombarded with radiation and propelled into the future. (Mystery in Space v1 #64) Thousands of years ago during their bronze age, a conflict erupted between the nations of Ranagar and Moorl after the latter declared war on the former. The Moorlian scientist Agran created a giant brazen automaton known as the Borg for use against their enemies. From its cyclopean eye, it fired a beam that froze the inhabitants of Ranagar in their tracks but they were saved when it began to rain which removed the effects of the Borg. Upon being freed, the people of Ranagar then moved to defeat the Moorl whereupon they buried the Borg in the hope that it would never be awakened again. (Mystery in Space v1 #85)

Around a thousand years ago, a nuclear war brought out on their world that split their civilization into isolated city-states and led to the loss of much of their scientific knowledge. (Showcase v1 #17) During these ancient days, the cities of Ranagar and Zared were locked in a bitter conflict during the atomic war. Diktator Alva Xar of Zared had sought to achieve mastery of Rann and intended to become its emperor. To save himself, Xar entered into hibernation underground to wait until the conflict was over where he remained in this state for the next thousand years. (Mystery in Space v1 #81) A thousand years ago, during the great nuclear war the scientists of the city-laboratory of Samarkand grew angry at the conflict created by the warlords. A millennium ago, colonists from Samarkand departed Rann to the sister world of Anthorann where they established the city of New Ranagar that was protected by a great dome. Meanwhile, Samarkand built a machine able to warp space and disappeared into the fourth dimension where the city only manifested again every 25 years. Over the centuries, the inhabitants of the city devoted themselves to scientific research and had no weapons. Upon Samarkand's return every quarter of a century, they asked travellers by on the fate of the rest of Ran on whether they had given up war or not. (Showcase v1 #17)

The villainous Vor Kan used Grikkian robots to lay siege to the capitol city of Ranagar. Adam Strange tracked Vor Kan down and destroyed the command center used to control the robots. (Mystery in Space v1 #53)

Kaskor later orchestrated the conquest of Rann where he created a hidden menace that challenged Ranagar and used the Zeta-Beam to make it appear that the military was defeated. He then used his Zeta-Gun to transport others that opposed him to the planet Rhynthar. There, they were forced to contend with the deadly Dust Devils of Rhynthar that were an alien form of sodium-based life that destroyed all other lifeforms on their world. Adam Strange managed to destroy the Dust Devils and defeated Kaskor where he later returned everyone back to Rann with the Zeta-Beam. (Mystery in Space v1 #68) The Kirri later emerged from their ice caverns and utilised their Aqua-Ray beam to turn the Rannians into puddles of water but Adam Strange outsmarted them where he restored the population into their human form. (Mystery in Space v1 #69) On his next visit to Rann, Strange was unaware that the last of the Dust Devils had hidden on his person and emerged with Jakarta seeking revenge for his kind. (Mystery in Space v1 #70)

It was later visited and attacked by Ikhar the Undying who was an entity that was master of the mineral world. (Mystery in Space v1 #79)

A would-be conqueror named Oran Dargg used Zeta-Beam technology to transport the planet Earth into Rann's orbit. He threatened to collide the two worlds unless Rann declared him ruler of the planet. Adam Strange teamed up with Hawkman and Hawkwoman to stop Oran Dargg, and Sardath developed a Nega-Zeta-Beam to return Earth to its correct location. (Mystery in Space v1 #91)

Post-Crisis

Following the Crisis on Infinite Earths, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events. Rann

The Swamp Thing accompanied Adam Strange back to Rann to help revitalize dying plant life that had suffered from the atomic fallout. (Swamp Thing v2 #58)

The En'Tarans invade Rann in an effort to acquire their Zeta-Beam technology. The JLA become involved and are pressed into slavery. Adam Strange helps to free the JLA and together they create a large-scale Zeta-Beam which is used to teleport the entire En'Taran fleet away from the planet. (JLA v1 #21)

Rann was a target of the warlord Grayven and his forces as they ravaged a number of worlds from the outer rim of the galaxy with the Darkstars arriving to defend that planet. (Green Lantern v3 #74)

The planet was looking to establish treaties with other worlds in order to form an alliance of nations with the hopes of forming a United Planets in the future. (Starman v2 #52)

Thus, the Rannians came to reside on Throneworld where they called their new settlement New Rann whilst their ruling council deliberated on the actions of Adam Strange and whether he was guilty in the destruction of their world. In the mean time, Strange and his wife travelled to Old Rann in order to destroy any Rannian technology that could be taken by scavengers with many of the old cities destroyed on the world. (Strange Adventures v3 #1)

Green Lantern Vath Sarn traveled to Rann to assist Adam Strange with taking down a villain equipped with a mecha-armor. (Green Lantern Corps v2 #23)

Post-Flashpoint

Following the Flashpoint, a new version of history was created with a different timeline of events.

It was known that the Rannians fought against the Thanagarians in the first great Rann-Thanagar War. (Naomi v1 #4)

The Rannian scientist Sardath was shown as being a member of the secretive Circle that was an alliance between various worlds who looked to manipulate events to achieve galactic peace. (The Man of Steel v2 #1)

Sardath was noted to had embarked on an anthropology mission on Earth where he embedded himself in human society to observe them. During his time there, he fell in love with a woman named Anna who became pregnant with his child. He intended to stay with them when Rannian agents forcibly took him back to their homeworld. (Justice League United v1 #16)

In order to end the constant warfare, Sardath proposed the creation of a being that embodied all their races and thus become a symbol of peace as well as unity. This led to the creation of the Ultra Project who was the perfect synthesis of all their DNA. For this project, it was decided that Ultra needed to contain within him the genetic material of all planets. This led to a Rannian campaign where they created secret outposts on many world's such as Earth with the samples transported back to Earth through Zeta Beam where Sardath used it in the breeding of Ultra. However, the villainous shapeshifter named Byth learnt of the project and infiltrated the program where he usurped it for his own needs in order to create the ultimate weapon. This led to even the prototype versions of the Ultra Project being used by Byth which attracted the attention of the Justice League that had arrived in Canada. These superheroes were transported to Rann by Sardath who enlisted their aid in battling Byth. (Justice League United v1 #2)

Overview

In appearance, Rann was a habitable world that orbited the star Alpha Centauri and was located over 25 trillion miles from Earth. (Showcase v1 #17)

There were three great oceans situated on the planet. (Showcase v1 #17) Most of the great city-states on Rann were located in the more temperate regions on Rann. (Mystery in Space v1 #81) The hot tropic zones was home to ice-caverns that were a natural phenomena and popular tourist location that housed a dining location. (Mystery in Space v1 #82) The 'misty lands' were also a region formed by steaming geysers that made them a natural hiding spot. (Mystery in Space v1 #83)

Locations on Rann include:

• Aldavian Hills : (Mystery in Space v1 #77)
• Boxos Shem : this canyon was believed to be where life began on the planet and its name meant "Old Home". (Countdown to Adventure v1 #1)
• Kamorak : a city on Rann situated on the western coastline near the Abyx Sea. (Showcase v1 #17)
• Samarkand : a city that had stores of the Vitatron ore and around a millennium ago phased into the fourth dimension to avoid the nuclear war and only reappeared every 25 years. (Showcase v1 #17)
• Sea of Abyx : a sea that was once populated by large prehistoric reptiles. (Mystery in Space v1 #62) Abyx was in fact said to be the largest sea on Rann. (Showcase v1 #17)
• Hall of Justice : a structure where criminals were brought before the people. (Mystery in Space v1 #59)
• Battlements of Ys : one of the tourist sites that was shown to visitors to the planet. (Showcase v1 #19)
• Kallanoor : a city on Rann. (Showcase v1 #19)
• Sea of Ybss : an expanse of water on the planet. (Showcase v1 #19)
• Spires of Sleeth : a location on the planetary surface. (Hawkman v1 #18)
• Gorge of Chrystar : a gorge situated on Rann. (Hawkman v1 #18) It was regarded as being a scenic wonder that was a mile deep filled with marvels unseen anywhere else on the planet though the air was pretty thin deep within it which necessitated the use of a breathing helmet. (Mystery in Space v1 #76)
• Valley of Summaru : (Mystery in Space v1 #76)
• Abyxian Wastes : (Rann/Thanagar War v1 #5)
• Mount Ebalon : (Rann/Thanagar War v1 #6)
• Tower of the Rainbow Doom :
• Lake of Klaleel : (Mystery in Space v1 #77)
• Zared : an ancient city on Rann that long ago contained a weapon laboratory that made a great weapon but the settlement was destroyed in the great nuclear war that afflicted the world with a modern city built over the ruined one. (Mystery in Space v1 #77)
• Dancing Waters of Athline : once a year, water was ejected upwards through high underground pressures where the erupted high into the air and merged with the air currents and blazing sunlight with this being noted for being a beautiful sight to see. (Mystery in Space v1 #66)
• Lake Abonadda : a lake that froze during winter time. (Mystery in Space v1 #67)
• Square of Heroes : a site holding a statue for Rann's champion. (Mystery in Space v1 #79)
• Alkamar : a city which in ancient times was destroyed by a meteor leaving a crater behind and ruins. (Mystery in Space v1 #80)
• Sareel : an arid plain on Rann. (Mystery in Space v1 #81)
• Land of a Thousand Smokes : a desolate region consisting of geysers that ejected smoke into the air. (Mystery in Space v1 #81)
• Shalimar : a city state on Rann. (Mystery in Space v1 #81)
• Balimoor : a city state on Rann. (Mystery in Space v1 #81)
• Klysteela : a city state on Rann. (Mystery in Space v1 #81)
• Parmaleen : a city state on Rann that had an open plain outside of it. (Mystery in Space v1 #81)
• Tyroolian Marshes : a place of marshlands. (Mystery in Space v1 #81)
• Akalon : a city on Rann which had nuclear warheads that was used against dangerous threats that was destroyed by a renegade scientist seeking to conquer the planet. (Mystery in Space v1 #82)
• Kalthyll : a location that contained radioactive rocks. (Mystery in Space v1 #84)
• Spleeth : an area of rock spires with these great rock formations created in prehistoric times. (Mystery in Space v1 #85)
• Moorl : an ancient city that once warred with Ranagar that had built the Borg and was left in ruins. (Mystery in Space v1 #85)
• Tartaron : a city on Rann. (Mystery in Space v1 #85)
• Lake Taralan : a freshwater lake. (Mystery in Space v1 #85)
• Crater Island : a rocky island that was used by Ranagar to store its subterranean arsenal of weapons for testing and related laboratories. (Mystery in Space v1 #71)
• Plain of Amorlene : a lake was situated here with underground conduits and carried it to pumping stations for Ranagar. (Mystery in Space v1 #71)
• Tylolean Labyrinths : that was built by Rann's first race where the ruins and giant statues were left untouched as the Rannians were more concerned about the future rather than the past. (Starman v2 #53)

A common mineral known as Orichalk was native to Rann. (Mystery in Space v1 #53) One element found on Rann was the metal Vitatron that came on meteors with the effects of the rare life-metal able to impart immortality on others. (Showcase v1 #17)

It was noted that Rann had a sister world called Anthorann. (Showcase v1 #17)

Animals and plants native to the world included:

• Tigrabar : four legged stripped large felines resembling tigers with a hot on their head. (Mystery in Space v1 #65)
• Palador : a tailed grey skinned four legged beast noted for it being wild and dangerous. (Mystery in Space v1 #66)
• Liquid Animals : these were creatures composed of liquid that were able to take any shape. (Swamp Thing v2 #58)
• Sandswarmers : were trillions of individually intelligent sand particles with a hive mentality that were normally not violent or dangerous unless they were agitated by something dangerous where they sometimes manifested avian-like forms. (Countdown to Adventure v1 #1)
• Fireflies : larger than humanoid insects that grew after consuming specially treated plants with their enlarged light-sacs generating heat that contained a network of distributed airtubes obtained oxygen for the chemical reaction to generate heat and light allowing them to set their environments on fire. Ray-guns and other weapons were noted for being useless against the Fireflies though oxyisprays could seal the airtubes in their light-sacs thus killing them. (Mystery in Space v1 #67)
• Xlla : a four legged deer-like creature with horns stretching back and a pink coat. (Mystery in Space v1 #82)

Senior scientists sometimes rose to the rank of Prime Technigog with these classed as Ri-level thinkers. Those with leadership qualities were capable of entering into the ranks of the Thought Council. (Justice League United v1 #16)

A celebration held by the people was the Festival of Dyalina that was a joyous holiday with the event marking the actions of a fabled warrior of Pagathann who led the people to freedom who later founded Ranagar City. (Mystery in Space v1 #76) Modern day Rannian's celebrated the annual Rann Games with these sometimes being held in the honor of a hero and were done so at stadiums where one of the events was the competition for the Wind Current Race. (Mystery in Space v1 #60) Every year, the planet's greatest scientists competed for the title of Scientist of the Year with judges awarding it to the winning contestant. (Mystery in Space v1 #82)

Rannian super-science achieved many feats but they never interfered with natural rainfall as it was considered good luck among their people as it saved their world long ago. (Mystery in Space v1 #85) A notable piece of technology was the Menticizer that imparted knowledge such as language that was implanted directly into the brain. (Showcase v1 #17) For years, Rann scientists had been working on the problem of overcoming food shortages with a new discovery allowing them to use specially treated plants that grew huge fruits and vegetables that fed the population. (Mystery in Space v1 #67) They had the technology to create nanotechnology and subatomic assemblers that were able to create cloned body parts for individuals that were killed thus restoring them to life. This was done in cases where there was enough life energy in the body that it could recover. In some cases, they could transfer the life energy and place it in a new housing in order to save a person's life. (Starman v2 #53)

One of their more versatile armaments were the Rannian Holo-Blasters, hard-light energy weaponry that could materialize a useful arsenal of heavy ordinance out of condensed photons, capable of taking out an army platoon.

Eventually, Sardeth would perfect making the beam's effects permanent through the implementation of the Mega Zeta Beam, a device that made the effects of transport permanent once the recipient reached their desired location. However, it would cause individuals exposed to its augmented zeta radiation via transport multiple times to develop temporary insanity as a side-effect, one which would wear off simply given time. Sardeth would again improve its design by micro-managing its size, creating portable genetic-I.D.-activated Zeta Modules which only needed the proper coordinates keyed in to warp from place to place.

The Omega Beam, the pinnacle of Rannian transporter technology, was used only twice in its brief existence; once to teleport Rann into an empty parallel universe to hide it from The Luciphage, then again to return it to the DC Comics universe, albeit in the Polaris System. Unfortunately, all Omega Beams were destroyed in the course of their use, due to how dangerous they were. Omega Beam technology was a vast improvement on Sardeth's original design; unlike the former, which made use of Zeta Radiation to project and transport objects across intergalactic distances, the Omega Beam technology utilized the limitless energy capacity of Zero-Point Radiation as an unlimited power source, drawing upon time & space itself. It converted matter into energy on a cosmic level, in order to transport star-system-spanning material across not only the cosmos, but also to different realities if need be. If the step taken to reconvert energy back to matter is skipped, however, this would create the most devastating munition ever conceived in existence; converting entire realities into raw energy, harnessed and projected the most lethal Weapon of Universal Destruction the universe or multiverse has ever seen.

Inhabitants

• Sardath :
• Kaskor : male who served as an officer in Ranagar and second-in-command to Sardath. (Mystery in Space v1 #68)
• Avanar Bar : a former dictator who was overthrown on Rann. (Mystery in Space v1 #59)
• Pagathann : a fabled legendary warrior who five thousand years ago who rebelled and rose up against a tyrant leading to the freedom of the people who ended up building Ranagar City with the Festival of Dyalina made in order to celebrate his achievement. (Mystery in Space v1 #76)
• Alva Xar :
• Akor Barth : a male scientist from distant Anathul who competed for the annual Scientist of the Year title. (Mystery in Space v1 #82)
• Vath Sarn :
• Avanar Bar :
• Bobba :
• Kal Jat :
• Navelo :
• Oran Dargg :
• Vor Kan :
• Xaltan Torr :

Notes

• Rann was created by Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky where it made its first appearance in Showcase v1 #17 (December, 1958).
• In Adventures of Superman v1 #570 (1999), a simulation showed an alternate sequence of events if Kal-El's rocketship was sent to Rann instead of Earth. The young Kal-El grew up under the care of Sardath where he became Rann's devoted protector defending the planet constantly as Skyforce. He was shown as being an arrogant dominating figure who defeated any foe that he imprisoned in his fortress with no outworlders allowed on the world. Kal-El was betrothed to Alanna though she hated the man until the Zeta Beam brought Adam Strange to Rann. Initially, Kal-El sought to imprison Strange but became impressed at his kindness leading to him abandoning his role as harsh protector allowing Rann to defend itself from threats.

In other media

Television

• In Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Rann made multiple appearances in the animated television series starting from the episode "Mystery in Space!".
• In Young Justice, Rann made an appearance in the second season of the animated television series where its revealed that Adam Strange worked on the Erdel Project involving teleportation using Zeta Beam technology. This led to him accidently being transported to Rann where he encountered the scientist Sardath and it was during this time it was learnt that the Kroloteans had stolen the Zeta Beam research. With it, they established a base on Earth in order to study the Metagene among the population and used rapid transportation with the technology. This saw a Team of young heroes being sent to Rann to stop the threat of the Kroloteans but had to do so covertly as humans and particularly the Justice League were considered criminals in space due to the actions of the Light. Afterwards, Rann came under attack from the forces of Apokolips with hordes of Parademons assaulting the surface with them being bolstered by mind-controlled Metahumans from Earth that were deployed as living weapons. The Justice League was responsible for defending the planet with the incident making them aware of Earth's Metahumans being sold by trafficking rings to serve in battlefields across the galaxy.

Films

• In Green Lantern: Beware My Power, Rann appeared in the setting of the animated film. It was shown to had been involved in the Rann-Thanagar War that had briefly ended when a joint project using Zeta-Beam technology was being deployed to benefit both planets. However, an incident resulted in the transportation of Thanagar into Rann's atmosphere, upsetting the ecosystem of both planets thus restarting the war. Seemingly, Green Lantern Hal Jordan who was overseeing the peace between the two worlds was killed alongside thousands of Thanagarians and Rannians. His ring was later passed to John Stewart who was looking to find a way to remove it. He travelled to Rann where during the journey they came to learn that Sinestro had been responsible for the sabotage of the Zeta Beam experiment. In the meantime, Sardath had been developing a doomsday weapon for the Rannian forces for deployment against Thanagar. Hal Jordan was also discovered to had been alive and captive to Sinestro but it was learnt that he had been infected by the Parallax entity. Corrupted, Jordan looked to use the Rannian doomsday weapon to destroy both Rann and Thanagar but was killed by his best friend Green Arrow.

Appearances

• Mystery in Space v1: (1958)
• Strange Adventures v3:
• Starman v2:
• Countdown to Adventure v1:
• Justice League United v1:
• Naomi v1:

External Links

• DC Database Entry
• Comicvine Entry
• Wikipedia Entry

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