Rao (comics)
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Rao is a fictional sun in DC Comics. It is the red dwarf that the planet Krypton orbits. Before Krypton exploded, Rao's red sun radiation suppressed the superhuman abilities of the planet's inhabitants, as their powers only worked in the radiation of a yellow sun.
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[edit] Sandman "Endless Nights"
In Sandman "Endless Nights" there is a story with Rao. Rao is the personification of the kryptonian sun. The story hints that the kryptonian race and the survival of Kal-El was no conicidence, but a making of Rao.
In that story Despair of the Endless speaks with Rao some billion years ago: "Think about it Rao. Wouldn´t bringing life onto a planet that is inherently unstable add to the beauty of the life. If at any moment it could explode.. Truly it would only be perfectly beautiful, a perfect piece of art, if one single life-form escaped. To remember, to mourn, to despair."
[edit] The Last God Of Krypton
In "Superman: The Last God Of Krypton", when Krypton was a primitive planet Rao held a war against Cythonna, Goddess Of Ice. This was later referred to as "The Wars Of Fire and Ice". Cythonna lost, and was imprisoned by Rao in another dimension. She managed to escape, and started to look for Kal-El, the Last Kryptonian and possibly a direct descendant of Rao himself. (this has not been confirmed yet), in order to kill him and have her ultimate revenge on Rao, who had abandoned Krypton millennia before it exploded.
Superman and Cythonna held a final battle in the sun, resulting in Superman's victory, imprisoning Cythonna in the sun's core, due to its gravity.
[edit] Krypton Chronicles
It is described in detail in E. Nelson Bridwell's Krypton Chronicles that later on in Kryptonian history, Rao went from being the sun to a much more cosmic, monotheistic concept, which is "he who ignited the sun."
[edit] Infinite Crisis
In Infinite Crisis # 6, Superman and Kal-L carry Superboy-Prime through Rao to remove his powers, which enables his defeat.
[edit] Superman Returns
In the film Superman Returns, Rao becomes a supernova, devouring Krypton.
[edit] "Great Rao"
References to Rao began to creep into Superman's lingo in the 1970s under the editorship and policy of Julie Schwartz.
