First Appearance: Doctor Strange v2 #43 (October 1980).
Appearances: Doctor Strange
v2 #43-44.
Years Active: circa 1000 C.E.
Kan is the ancestor of Wong, the servant and friend of the modern day hero and Sorcerer Supreme Doctor Strange. In China a "thousand years ago" Kan was an itinerant monk. In the words of his descendant,
Kan was a monk. He studied the great mysteries, striving, along with his brothers, to comprehend the secrets of the world---the universe---around them. He was a mystic, a teacher, a healer---and, although his order walked the path of peace---when necessary, he was a warrior. Many a foul bandit and unjust lord learned the error of his ways from my revered ancestor.Kan was brought through a mystic black mirror to another dimension in order to lead the natives against a group of "Wizard Kings." Kan is led under false pretenses to organize the local armies and fight the Wizard Kings; he does so and defeats them after terrible battles, only to discover that the sorcerer who brought him to the dimension lied and was a servant of the demonic N'Garai. The sorcerer is eventually killed, and Kan, in penance, decides to do penance by indenturing himself to a nameless benign mage. Kan then raised and trained his firstborn son to follow in his footsteps, and since then ("a score of generations ago") every firstborn son of Kan's family has fought against evil, or served those who fought against evil, since that time.
Kan was, naturally, a mighty warrior, using both staff and throwing stars.
