David Rand (Earth-616)

## Ka-Zar

**David Rand** also known as **Ka-Zar**, was a South African youth who lived in the wilds of the Belgian Congo.

## Biography

### Early Life

David was born in South Africa to English diamond magnate John Rand and Constance Rand in 1918. David grew up in Johannesburg.

### Fateful Crash in the Congo

In 1921, David and his family took a private plane to Cairo for a buisness trip. While on the way, the plane started having coplications and crashed in the middle of the Belgian Congo. While David and his father were fine, his mother's leg broke in the impact. In the days that followed, David began playing with the wildlife that got close to the plane and the shelter his father made. One day, a leopard named N'Jaga which had stalked him over the course of days had made its move to kill and eat him. Constance saw N'Jaga and screamed which alerted John who grabbed his rifle and shot N'Jaga. N'Jaga was injured and ran into the brush. David was unhappy that N'Jaga was harmed and feared he would never be able to play with him which caused his father to marvel at his lack of fear of animals. In another instance, John shot and killed a snake that was close to David, which also made David unhappy. David would mourn the loss of the snake. David was also unhappy with the prospect of leaving the jungle as he had made connections with the animals.

Days passed and no sign of rescue was near, andd in the meantime John had created a shelter out of the wreckage in the plane. One day a plane flew over the Rands, and John attempted to get its attention but the pilot failed to notice them. John was still confident that the plane would return and find them, however day after day the plane failed to spot them and eventually it never returned.

Constance eventually became violentely ill and passed away. John became suicidally depressed but realized that he needed to stay strong for David's sake. John decided that he and David would need to make the 200 mile trek to the nearest (white) outpost, however a raging storm broke out that night. The storm was so violent that the shelter John had made would not protect them, so he and David rushed to the nearest cave for shelter. While they were running, a tree was struck by lightning and began falling toward them. John pushed David out of the way, but he was hit by the tree. While John survived the injury, he sustained brain damage and was convinced that he David needed to stay in the jungle.

### Resident of the Jungle

John and David started a life in the jungle, and while John taught David to read and write, David preffered to play with the animals. Living in the jungle, David gained the ability to speak with animals, was able to traverse the jungle with skills that rivaled animals, and learned the code of the jungle: kill only when necessary.

One day, as David was running through the jungle he saw Kro the Buzzard perch on a tree. David rushed to greet Kro, but was stopped in his tracks by the bloodcurdeling roar of Zar the Lion. Zar had been following David and racing along side him, but Zar had fallen into quicksand. David gathered branches and helped Zar escape his predicament. Zar rejoined with his mate Sha and Zar began to respect David.

### Origin of Ka-Zar

A week later, David and John were traversing the jungle when David smelled smoke. David and John went to investigate when they saw a camp with several native tribesmen and one European man who seemed to be their leader and commanding them to dig from a river. John confronted the men and ordered them to leave the Jungle before turning back. The European, Paul de Kraft pulled out his pistol but David fired an arrow at de Kraft which caused him to drop his gun. David and John went back into the jungle, and John informed David that it was there duty to protect the jungle from those that would pervert it.

A day later, David snuck into the camp but was bewildered that it was desereted but all the possession were still there. David looked through the items of the camp, and was preparing to return to his father when he heard a gunshot. David ran back home and heard another gunshot and saw that his hut was on fire. David saw his dying father on the ground near a stream and carried him to safety, but was witnessed by one of de Kraft's men. De Kraft and his men surrounded David, who vowed to one day kill De Kraft. David attempted to grab his father's knife but de Kraft pulled out his pistol and prepared to shoot David. Before de Kraft could do so, Zar rushed into the scene and killed two of de Kraft's men and drove de Kraft away.

David buryied his father next to his mother and sat in mourning. Zar then told David that he would take him as his brother and that David would henceforth be known as Ka-Zar, meaning the brother of Zar. David agreed to the arangement and left with Zar for Zar's cave.

### Duel with Bardak

While Zar told David that he could stay in his cave, Sha did not trust David. Zar still insisted that David would be a member of their family and thus was welcome in their home. One day, as David was traversing the jungle he saw his reflection in the water remebered he had seen a mirror at de Kraft's camp. David went to collect the mirror, but at de Kraft's camp he heard crashing in the tents. David realized that it was likely that Chaka or one of his apes was in the camp and investigated. David saw Bardak in the tent with the mirror and demanded that Bardak gave it to him. Bardak refused and the two began to fight and David defeated Bardak. While David had the chance to eliminate the ape, he chose to give mercy to him. When David informed Zar of the courseof events, Zar disapproved of the fact that David showed mercy.

As time went on, Sha became more and more irritable and sullen. As a result Zar suggested that he and David race through the jungle and meet Trajah the Elephant and his herd. When Zar and David stopped to drink water, they heard thunderous crashes and fled to higher ground as an elephant ran through. The elephant began attacking David, as he narrowly dodged the rampaging elephant through the treetops. David managed to return to Zar and Trajah and his heard appeared. Trajah explained that the rogue elephant, named Tupat, had been afflicted with the "madness". David and Zar then returned home.

Having returned home, Zar and David learned that the reason that Sha had acted strangely was that she was pregnant and had given birth while Zar and David were away. David attempted to get close and touch the cubs, but Sha hit him and sent him flying. While Zar initially angry with Sha, he then reasoned that it was David's fault for getting near the cubs and that it was not his place to get near them.

Some time later, while David and Zar were out hunting they heard a roar from Sha. Bardak was dishonored because of his defeat at the hands of David, and the only way to recover his honer was to retrieve the mirror. In the process, Bardak kidnapped one of Sha and Zar's cubs, Zoro, and took him to his tribe. Zar and David confronted Bardak and his tribe, and the leader of the tribe Chaka refused to help them. David challenged Bardak, who then threw Zoro to the ground from his perch on the treetops. David managed to catch Zoro, and scaled the tree to duel his enemy. David began to climb higher in the trees, before eventually diving down to Bardak's level and stabbing him in the chest with his knife. Bardak fell to the ground and died. David then issued a challenge to the Ape tribe stating any who harmed his brothers would die, Chaka then ordered his tribe to leave the area. Sha then grew to accept David as part of the family.

### Freeing the Animals

One day, as David is traveling through the jungle he was approached by Trajah the Elephant who told him about humans (led by big game hunter and animal hunter Steve Hardy) entering the Jungle and capturing several animals including a female elephant named Tuta. David believed that if there were other humans in the jungle then it was likely that de Kraft was with them. David and Trajah journeyed to the Savanah. David finds the human camp, but decides to wait until night to raid it. While waiting, Hardy investigated the cries of Trajah and told him that he intends to bring Tuta to a zoo, which David overheared. David concluded that Hardy didn't want to harm the animals and as such while he was still going to free the animals, that he wouldn't hurt the humans.

That night, David raids the camp and begins freeing animals. The next morning, Hardy learns about his missing animals and organizes a search party to reclaim the animals he lost. This culimates with the party attempting to kill a rhino to steal its calf, but David fires arrows at them from a distace. This causes Hardy's men to abandon the hunt with Hardy having no choice but to go along with them. With his mission complete, David began swimming but was being stalked by N'Jaga the leopard. N'Jaga pounced on David and the two went further and futher into the lake. N'jaga left the lake believing, that David died. David then emerged and revolved to never be found without his knife.

## Personality

David loved animals and a deep respect for the way of the wild.

## Appearance

As a child, David was a large and musclar and somewhat cute. Despite spending all of his time in the jungle with no home or ways to clean himself (not to mention the amount of time he spent with animals), he did not appear to be filthy.

## Attributes

### Powers

**Superhuman Strength**: David seems to have some sort of enhanced strength.

**Superhuman Speed**

### Skills

**Survival Skills**

**Animal Taming and Bonding**

**Acrobatics**