Red Tornado is a member of the Justice League. He was the first "den-mother" of the Team. He constructed an android to allow him to pass as his human alter-ego, John Smith.
As a robot, Red Tornado can come across as emotionally distant. Robin in particular referred to him as a "heartless machine", leading Tornado to reply that he does indeed have a heart, which is made of "carbon-steel alloy". Nevertheless, Red Tornado believes that the members of the Team should be permitted to fight their own battles (according to the young heroes themselves, this is particularly in contrast to their other mentors, who would fix things themselves).[6] Red Tornado volunteered to be the caretaker of the Team. When later asked about his reasons, he told the Team that he was the pragmatic choice as he does not require sleep, have a secret identity or a second life to live. The Team connects the dots and realizes that Red Tornado desires to become more human and, unable to do that with the League because of their uptight attitudes, he turned to the Team. Red Tornado isn't sure if their guesses are accurate, but admits they could be true. He even goes so far to say that after spending so much time with them, he's come to care about them as a human would.[7]
Physical appearance[]
Red Tornado takes the appearance of a tall red robot with no ears or nose. His mouth and eye sockets are black giving him the appearance of an emotionless robot. He has a yellow T symbol on his chest, and a yellow arrow on his forehead. He also wears a blue cape.
In order to pass as his human alter-ego John Smith, Red Tornado created an android with the appearance of a roughly 35-year old,[8] bald Caucasian male with green eyes.[9]
History[]
Early life[]
Red Tornado was created by T.O. Morrow.[10] Morrow had earlier created two robots, Red Torpedo and Red Inferno, disguised as humans and operating as heroes, thinking themselves humans. When that did not work, he created Red Tornado. This time, there would be no disguise. The robot became a member of the Justice Society of America.[7]Red Tornado was deactivated for a long time[11] before becoming a member of the Justice League[3]in August, 2008.[12]Tornado has had several upgrades at unspecified points in his life.[13]
Red Tornado and Martian Manhunter welcomed Robin, Aqualad, Speedy and Kid Flash. Their meeting was a short one; he departed with the rest to discuss the four ice-themed crimes earlier in the day.[3]
When the Justice League approved the idea of Robin, Aqualad, Kid Flash and Superboy forming a covert operative team that worked for the League, he volunteered as the adult caretaker for the young team.[14] He would be exempt from monitor duty at the Watchtower during this time.[15] He left shortly after the others to collect components for the computer system from the Watchtower.[16]
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After Superboy had discovered a G-Gnome on the loose in the Cave, Red Tornado made sure to return it to Cadmus.[17]
For the most part, the Red Tornado's work with the Team was rather "hands off". Rather than force his leadership upon the Team and control them, he instead allowed them to work on their own and rarely if ever stepped in. When the Team was facing off against Mister Twister, he warned that, if he intervened, he would not be helping them, implying they should solve the problem themselves.[6]
Red Tornado was one of the eight Leaguers that responded to the threat of Amazo. After the android was defeated, he examined it, and ruled out that it was created by Morrow.[10]
Tornado still had his own concerns, and when his old friend Kent Nelson went missing, the Team volunteered to go to Salem, Massachusetts to investigate the disappearance.[18]
Despite his commitment to the Team, Red Tornado decided to do monitor duty, to fill in for Green Arrow. While he was gone, his "siblings", Red Torpedo and Red Inferno—who he was not aware he had—infiltrated the Cave, and nearly took out the Team. Upon his return, he inspected his defeated siblings. As the electromagnetic pulse that had shut them down had worn off, Tornado was seemingly reprogrammed upon touching his sister, and turned on the Team. He sucked the air from their lungs, knocking them out.[15] In reality, he had been pretending in order to locate his creator, T.O. Morrow.[7]
He eventually came to Morrow's lab in Yellowstone National Park, where he allowed himself to be stripped down and his memory cores downloaded. His speech computer was turned off. Together with his repaired siblings, they watched as Morrow created Red Volcano, who promptly destroyed his creator—an android duplicate of the original Morrow. The new Red set out to finish Morrow's plans, detonating the supervolcano underneath Yellowstone to wipe out humanity. Tornado continued pretending to play along when his brother asked him to take out the Team, but since Volcano had Tornado's memories, he was found out. When Volcano took on the Team himself, Tornado returned to the lab to convince his older siblings to help him. Inferno refused, claiming they were no longer human, and should not care about humans. But Tornado argued that they were never humans—but they were heroes. The Reds took on their younger sibling, a fight which only Tornado survived, albeit barely. He lost his legs, but still managed to divert the ash of the supervolcano into space.
Tornado managed to track down the real Morrow, aged and bedridden, in a hospital, watched over by Brom Stikk. Tornado vouched to take care of him, as no matter what, he was still his father.[7]
Red Tornado oversaw a telepathic training exercise by the Team. It went horribly wrong when Miss Martian's subconscious telepathy took over Martian Manhunter's control.[21]
With the Team still in shock over the training mission, Batman called Red Tornado and several other Leaguers close to the Team to discuss what to do next. After Superboy ran out and had an adventure with the transformed Sphere, Red Tornado ran tests on the alien machine.[22]
Red Tornado was present at a meeting called by Batman, with Red Arrow, Robin and Aqualad, to determine the identity of the mole within the Team. Red Tornado did not actively participate in the discussion.[23]
Red Tornado was in the Cave when Klarion and his accomplices divided the world in two dimensions, one for adults and one for children. He stayed with Batman and Zatara whilst plans were made.[24]
After the source of the dimension shifting magic was found, Red Tornado joined a strike team at the epicenter. He attacked Felix Faust, who deflected his attack and retaliated with a fire blast. Red Tornado was knocked out, but the League won the day in the end.[24]
Red Tornado helped Black Canary and Superboy attack the second flying ice fortress. He lifted a turret that Superboy had thrown away, and threw it back at the fortress, destroying another cannon.[25]
Green Arrow gave half of the Team a mission, leaving Miss Martian, Superboy and Zatanna in Red Tornado's care. The three were quickly bored, but Red Tornado did not have a mission for them. He retreated to his apartment, which sparked the others' interest—Tornado had no human needs, so what would he be doing all day? Later in the night, Red Tornado left the mountain on an errand, and when he returned, he found the children in his apartment, watching his creation, the android John Smith. Red Tornado was offended at the intrusion of privacy, but quickly turned to explain his intentions. He was building the android so he could interact with humanity. Zatanna remarked that Smith could pass as a human, though he would need clothing.[9]
Red Tornado observed the members of the Team that had gone on the mission as they returned. It was a failure, and Kid Flash and Red Arrow blamed Artemis for it.[9]
Red Tornado was present when Batman informed the Team that Red Arrow was the mole and a Cadmus clone. He then shutdown while trying to plant a Starro-tech chip on Aqualad. Robin did an analysis and found Tornado's shutdown was a hardware, and not a software issue, but had no idea on how to reactivate the android. Zatanna suggested moving his consciousness from the "Red Tornado" body to the "John Smith" body. After Black Canary entered the Cave, Smith arose and yelled for the Team to "get out of the Cave." Black Canary attacked Smith and the Team with her Canary Cry, causing the Smith body to lose a patch of "skin" around its left eye and its legs. After Canary's defeat, Smith had the Team take Sphere to locate the rest of the Team, as it tracked Superboy and radio communication would alert the Justice League. While traveling, Smith informed the Team about Starro-tech and how Vandal Savage had taken over the League.[28]
Red Tornado was present when Vandal Savage and Klarion retreated after the Team defeated Superman and Batman. When the Watchtower's computer announced the new year and members of the Team kissed. Tornado commented that human customs still eluded him.[28]
Red Tornado supported Artemis's away team to Olympia, monitoring multiple sensors. He alerted her when his sensors picked up a GPS signal near her location, and later when seismic activity in the area was on the rise.[29]
Martian Manhunter and Red Tornado monitored the disappearance of several heroes, and held a conference with Mal Duncan and Nightwing about it.[30]
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Red Tornado informed Atom of the whereabouts of the League members who hadn't responded to the emergency in Metropolis. Later, he ordered the Bio-Ship to pursue the ship that had taken off from the Moon. When Atom theorized that the force field around Metropolis was generated from inside, Tornado confirmed the Watchtower had detected a probe hitting the city before the field formed.[31]
After Gamma Squad saved the hostages from the Kroloteans, Red Tornado arrived on the scene with the rest of the Justice League members and the Team.[33]
In a news broadcast anchored by Cat Grant, Red Tornado and Aquaman were shown rescuing civilians from rising floodwaters. The movement of the Warworld closer into Earth's orbit has caused changes to the tides and created mini-tidal waves.[34]
When magnetic field disruptors planted by the Reach threatened the Earth, Red Tornado joined 39 other heroes of Earth in a briefing in Metropolis. The heroes would use a computer virus provided by Lex Luthor to safely disable the disruptors. The heroes were paired off into twenty squads: one member would run interference against weapons guarding the disruptors, allowing the other to get close enough to plant the virus.[36]Red Tornado was assigned to Lambda Squad, and worked alongside Jay Garrick.[37]
Within thirty minutes, all squads had succeeded in their mission.[36]
Tornado attended a meeting of the League and affiliated teams. He was part of the unanimous vote to elect Black Lightning as the League's new leader.[42]
Tornado, Terra and the Stranger looked on at the damage caused by the now dormant volcano, and were surprised by the arrival of Vandal Savage by boom tube. The Stranger then disappeared with Savage.[44]
Tornado attended Conner and M'gann's wedding. Before the ceremony, he listened as Black Canary discussed her idea to set up a mental health sanctuary for heroes.[45]
Powers and abilities[]
Aerokinesis: Red Tornado is capable of creating tornado-like vortexes, channeling these forces through his arms and legs to produce bursts of cyclone-force winds and high speed forward velocity.[7]
Super strength: While not an actual power, his robotic physiology grants him strength superior to that of a human. He was able to catch a punch from Miss Martian and throw her hard enough at Kid Flash to stop his momentum. He was also able to block Superboy's punches. He later was able to pin down his brother Red Volcano to stop his plans.
Flight: by creating a whirlwind underneath him, Red Tornado can travel through the air.[14]
Multilingualism:In addition to English, Red Tornado's been programmed with a ton of languages.[46]
This is the fourth animated incarnation of Red Tornado, who had his first appearance in the DC Animated Universe series Justice League Unlimited, where he had a considerable number of cameos and a few minor roles. He also had appeared in Batman: The Brave and the Bold, voiced by Corey Burton, and the direct-to-video animated film Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths.
In the comics, Red Tornado the robot is the second to use the name Red Tornado. The first Red Tornado was a woman named Ma Hunkel.
Greg Weisman has said there were plans for a Red Tornado subplot in season two which would have introduced Traya, but they ultimately could not fit it in. He hopes to tell that story at some point.[47]