Superhero Origins - Red Tornado

Superhero Origins: Red Tornado

This superhero comes off as a bit of a blowhard – but that's not a bad thing. Welcome to WatchMojo.com and today we will explore the comic book origins of The Red Tornado.

As with most comic book characters, there are often re-imaginations and different versions to a character’s past. We have chosen primarily to follow the storyline which unfolded in 1968's Justice League of America #64-65 and was expanded upon in 1940's All-American Comics #20, 1960's Mystery in Space #61, 1985's Red Tornado #3, 2013's Earth 2 #15 and 2014's Earth 2 #17.

The android with an inferiority complex called the Red Tornado made his first appearance in a Justice League of America and Justice Society of America team-up in 1968. But traces of his origin go back even before that appearance.

The humorous Scribbly series which ran in All-American Comics featured a bulky mother by the name of Ma Hunkel. In a 1940 story, frustrated with police inaction in locating criminals, she fashioned a strange costume and went after the crooks herself. Her name? The Red Tornado.

Twenty years later, the space-faring hero Adam Strange encountered a being known as the Tornado Tyrant, a sentient cyclonic being with evil intentions. Both the Tyrant and Ma Hunkel were important in the later Red Tornado's origin.

When Red Tornado debuted in 1968, he appeared in the secret hideout of the Justice Society and was surprised that they did not recognize him as a member. He claimed to be Ma Hunkel, who had indeed made a brief appearance with the Justice Society back in the 1940s. He had intimate knowledge of the Justice Society and its members, but it was clear that he was not Ma Hunkel. Indeed, he turned out to be an android.

The Justice Society invited Red Tornado to join them on a mission to take down the villain T.O. Morrow. His cyclonic control of the wind was a great asset. However, he also inadvertently managed to incapacitate his own teammates when he fell into a trap set by T.O. Morrow. Soon it was revealed that the Red Tornado was a creation of the evil genius T.O. Morrow. Morrow had created a machine that could see into the future. It had told him that he needed to create a being called the Red Tornado to defeat his enemies. Morrow had programmed his creation into thinking he was somehow the original Ma Hunkel version of the Red Tornado and sent him off to join the Justice Society.

Morrow continued his escapades, running afoul of the Justice League next. Red Tornado eventually helped capture him, learning at that time that he was just a machine created without an identity, or a face. He had the ability to create tremendous tornados with his body, but he was tortured that he had no soul.

The more was learned about the Whirling Wonder in his 1985 mini-series. It turned out that the Tornado Tyrant, who had reformed and considered himself a Tornado Champion, had happened upon T.O. Morrow as he was creating Red Tornado. The Tornado being had merged himself with the android, encasing himself in its metal shell.

When DC relaunched its primary comic universe with the New 52 event, Red Tornado got quite a makeover. In the Earth 2 version of the character, Red Tornado is a synthetic being created as part of a government project. However, this Red Tornado is definitely female rather than male. More than that, this new Red Tornado hosts the soul and mind of a familiar DC character. Sam Lane, father of Lois Lane, placed his dying daughter's essence inside the robot shell, giving her renewed life - and tremendous powers.

Red Tornado's powers grew over the years, but he has not been used as frequently in other media as have other DC characters. Still, the appearances he has made are memorable and make audiences hungry to learn more about this red robot with a human soul.

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