Who's This? DC's Klingons.
The facts: This "vast empire" first appeared in the 30th century, via Adventure Comics #346 (July 1966), starting life as Legion villains under Jim Shooter's pen, almost conquering Earth with the help of Legion mole Nemesis Kid. They would try again several times, most notably in the EarthWar storyline of the late 70s. The 5YL era would give the LSH a quartet of Khundish temporary members who would help the team defeat Mordru. But by that time, the Khunds have already made their retroactive appearance in the contemporary era, as one of the alien races participating in the Invasion! event (basically as the invaders' shock troops). The Doomsday Annual shows the Kryptonian creature fighting the Khunds (a historical event that united them). In 2008, a Wonder Woman story has their homeworld devastated by another race, but the planet is saved by Diana, and the Khunds get their own Green Lantern as a result. They continue to appear in "space books" and in the far future, where they made Legion appearances through both the Reboot and Retroboot eras.
How you could have heard of them: In other media, a background Khund appeared on Supergirl, and they also caused problems on Justice League Unlimited and in the Green Lantern: Emerald Knights animated release. You're more likely to notice them in comics like Green Lantern or Lobo. As recently as the "Summer of Superman" (2025), Khunds were seen using LexCorp technology to fight General Zod, for example.
Example story: Starman #5 (December 1988) "Don't You Know There's a War On?" by Roger Stern, Tom Lyle and Bob Smith
Calling them DC's Klingons (especially considering DC had the Star Trek license for a long time) is a bit of a joke. They have a martial culture and that's the only real similarity (maybe the beards). But I once set a DC role-playing game in the 28th century and used Star Trek adventure scenarios where I filed the numbers off the aliens, making Dominators Romulans, and yes, Khunds Klingons. So inside joke explained. Let's move on to the example story. And though I could (should?) have gone back to some early Legion tale to see how they ORIGINALLY played, I went for an Invasion tie-in instead. One reason is that I've always loved Invasion! (did a whole podcast series about it, after all), and another is that their use here made them a household element in DC Comics stories for years to come. They're just part of the furniture now, and really weren't when they were stuck in the 30th century. So Starman Will Payton is at the start of his career and the alien alliance is in the middle of its First Strike. Will has been captured by the people responsible for his transformation into a nuclear battery and a Durlan agent gets wind of it and engineers a retrieval operation by a Khund soldier so the alliance can tap Will's infinite power.
Big dumb bruisers, with guns as chunky as they are. Is that all there is to them? The Durlan seems to think so, and the Khund doesn't think much of HIM either. Will wakes up inside the Khund's craft and gets out of his tube wondering what the heck is happening (this Starman does this a LOT). But though Khunds are very strong, this one guy wasn't ready for Starman to have SUPER-strength:
Will knocks him out and thinks "This guy looks like a Star Trek extra" (VINDICATED!), which is when his guest stars show up. Firestorm, Firehawk and Power Girl fly in, expecting opposition, but finding a friend. They hijack the ship and fly towards an alien encampment in the South Pacific, where a modern iteration of Easy Company is fighting a losing battle against the invaders. The Khund invaders, which makes this grunt vs. grunt, at least until the Omega-level superheroes show up! (They're mistaken for missiles.)
Cue many scenes of the metas sticking it to the professional warrior race (which makes me think there's a very good reason many of them are cyborgs by the 30th century).
Maybe one of their leaders will be tougher? Will punches through the bunker and finds one. He has a sweet red cape and is torturing Adam Strange (Roger Stern is really leaning into this "crossover event" thing). He's not really any tougher, no.
These guys are cannon fodder in the Invasion, a thousand years before they have achieved a "vast empire" that can actually conquer Earth by itself(ish). They have a lot of hardware, and come in great numbers, and there lies the threat. For heroes like THESE powerhouses, not so much, perhaps.
In the final analysis, the Khunds are perfectly fine alien conquerors, perhaps on the generic side, but better remembered than most. Their greatest weakness is that no one pronounces their name the same way, and some pronunciations are ruder than others.
Who's Next? Blue Devil's sidekick.
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