Who's Kung?

What's This? A Japanese-American shape-changer.

The facts: Kung was a World War II villain by virtue of Wonder Woman's 70s run of WWII stories (to match the TV show), not by appearing in the Golden Age. The "Assassin of a Thousand Claws" first appeared in Wonder Woman #237 (November 1977) by Gerry Conway and Jose Delbo. That two-issue storyline gave Roy Thomas permission to use him in two All-Star Squadron stories, and you can spot him in Crisis. In 1998, Tim Truman made use of him as an antagonist in his Guns of the Dragon mini-series. Ten years later, he'd appear in Justice Society of America #27-28 (see below), though by then, his modern-day successor was fighting Wonder Woman in the third volume of her series, and its Giant-Sized specials.
How you could have heard of him: The new Kung has a better chance. The current Thomas Morita is an ARGUS agent who appeared only once (in 2019's Wonder Woman Annual).
Example story: Justice Society of America #28 (August 2009) "Phantom Menace" by Jerry Ordway and Bob Wiacek

A very similar cover as All-Star Squadron #28 (see last week), was it on purpose? In any case, though this JSA title takes place in the present day, a few members have been drawn back in time by the spirit of Kung to Hiroshima, just as the atomic bomb drops. It's at this point that the Dragon King's protective spell collapses, so they have access to their powers, and now must fight Kung (enormous in spirit form) bolstered by the ghosts of those who have just died. Kung, who wanted them to atone for what America did, is plenty peeved that they didn't die in the firestorm and were protected from it by Green Lantern. So he moves them to some Pacific island for a final battle.

And though Kung's powers have changed, his reflexes are still tuned to turning into animals.

Except he doesn't have those animals' weaknesses anymore if he can just also turn himself into a ghost. It's tough to watch the JSAers try to justify the use of the bomb, contextually and historically, as so Kung, for all his rage, makes the more salient points. He had been "turned" by the U.S. government and given the mission to convince Hirohito to end the war, except Truman didn't give him enough time and refused to delay the bombing. He also seems to have been corrupted by the "Master of the Outer Darkness", and hopes to give all the lost souls a new body by sending THOSE souls to the Outer Darkness, so it's not like we can let him. Bam! The Spectre shows up with more JSAers and sentences Kung to exile back to the Outer Darkness. But Kung rejects his verdict.

I suppose if you become part of the spirit realm, you can turn into "dragon gods", that's fair. Everybody gangs up on the big dragon, giving the Spectre his chance.

Had Kung succeeded in killing the five lost JSAers, their bodies would have acted as a pentagram and returned him to life. Instead, he is sent back to where he came from.

Though one might question whether this is a classic Kung story, it IS an interesting way to bring a villain back from the dead, especially from a stable (the 1940s) that requires such explanations. How did the villain survive to the 2000s, and are they in any shape to fight superheroes? Not only did this scheme make use of Kung, but it enhanced him considerably, where before, I don't think he was a TEAM threat.

Who's Next? An antediluvian samurai.