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The story of the android known as the Red Tornado began on the far-off
planet Rann. On Rann, a sentient tornado calling itself the Tornado Tyrant
attacked Rann's champion, earthman Adam
Strange. Pretending to be created by
Adam's archenemy Ulthoon, the Tyrant tried to defeat the hero, but in the
end failed. The Tornado Tyrant was not destroyed, but reduced in power. The
weak sentient tornado followed Adam Strange, watching him defeat the Mechanical
Masters of Rann and the evil Palador on the Space Island of Peril. However,
a key point in the Tyrant's life came when it witnessed Adam Strange teamed
up with the Justice League of America from Earth to defeat the world conqueror Kanjar Ro in his first attempt to conquer Rann.
Intrigued by this powerful super-human team, the Tornado Tyrant, still
weakened, witnessed the League deal a crushing defeat to the villainous Dr.
Light. Deciding to fight for good, the sentient tornado renamed himself the
Tornado Champion and created an ersatz version of the Justice League to fight
for good. However, his evil aspect could not be contained, and escaped.
Calling itself the Tornado Tyrant again, the evil tornado fought and defeated
the good tornado. The Tornado Champion, however, called upon the League and
the League defeated the Tornado Tyrant, which was reabsorbed into the
Tornado Champion. Realizing he could not simply mimic a hero, the Tornado
Champion left Earth, seemingly forever. However, the Tornado Champion soon
found himself passing through a dimensional rift to Earth-2.
On Earth-2, a criminal by the name of T.O. Morrow wished to create
something to destroy the Justice Society of America, Earth-2's heroes.
Upon the suggestion of a computer Morrow stole from the future, he created
an android and called it Red Tornado after a comical Earth-2 super-hero who
was refused membership in the Justice Society. Morrow used a device called
a humaniztron to bring the android to life and sent it to destroy the
Justice Society.
However, unbeknownst to Morrow, the Tornado Champion entered his
headquarters at this exact time, and saw his way to become a TRUE hero.
The Tornado Champion entered the android and merged with it. When the merger
was complete, the Tornado Champion lost all of his previous memories, and
in fact became a new being: the Red Tornado.
At first, the Red Tornado followed its programming, attacking the Justice
Society and their Earth-1 counterparts, the Justice League of America,
during one of their yearly team-ups. However, the Red Tornado turned against
its programming and rescued the super-teams from his evil creator. For his
heroic actions, Red Tornado was made a member of the Justice Society of
America, becoming the team's second new member since its reactivation in the
1960's.
Red Tornado worked on various cases with the Justice Society on Earth-2.
Tornado aided the Society and the Justice League against the living star
Aquarius, which ended in the death of Larry Lance, and helped both teams
face the Peril of the Paired Planets.
During the next meeting between the Justice League and the Justice Society,
the heroes faced the threat of the Iron Hand. The Iron Hand created a huge
hand which threatened Earth-2. The heroes realized that the only heroes to
defeat the Hand in the past were Earth-2's Seven Soldiers of Victory, but
they were lost in time. The heroes tracked them down, the three super-teams
created a bomb to destroy the ethereal hand, and the Red Tornado carried the
bomb, sacrificing himself to save Earth-2.
However, the Red Tornado was not destroyed, but shot through the dimensional
barrier to Earth-1, where he was eventually discovered by the Justice League
of America. The Red Tornado was about to be reunited with his Justice Society
brethren when heroes from both Earths: Batman, Elongated Man, and
Green Arrow
of Earth-1 and Dr. Fate, Sandman, and Superman of Earth-2; were thrown with
Tornado to Earth-X, a world in which Nazis won World War II. Teaming up
with the Freedom Fighters of Earth-X, a group of superheroes lead by the
entity known as Uncle Sam, the heroes combated the Nazis, but succumbed to
their mind-control rays. The only hero not affected by this machine was
Tornado, who tracked down the machine to an orbital satellite and destroyed
it. At the end of the adventure, Red Tornado chose to remain with his newly
found friends in the Justice League, and became a member of the team.
Red Tornado, with the rest of the Justice League, was placed on trial by
the United Nations for the unlawful imprisonment of the hero Ultraa, but
Ultraa eventually dropped the charges when an alien manipulator was discovered
behind it all. Red Tornado was also on hand for the death of Earth-2's Mr.
Terrific at the hands of his arch-nemesis, the Spirit King.
Finally, due to his unreliability as a member of the Justice League, the
Red Tornado resigned from the team, much to the chagrin of his comrades. Red
Tornado re-adopted his guise of John Smith and officially adopted Traya.
John Smith reacquainted himself with Kathy Sutton, and revealed his heroic
identity and true nature. It was then that the two had realized they were in
love, and decided to settle down... that is, until Dr. Destiny attacked.
Red Tornado teamed up with his former comrades to defeat their nemesis, and
realized he did, indeed, have a place amongst Earth's greatest heroes.
Red Tornado joined the League and their newest recruit,
Firestorm, against
the Satin Satan possessed by the demon Sataroth.
[WFC 262 264, DET 493]
---
When Starro, the Starfish Conqueror, began to take control of New York City,
Red Tornado, along with Traya, Kathy Sutton, and Wonder
Woman, were on hand
for his arrival in the Big Apple. Red Tornado pretended to come under Starro's
control, and witnessed the starfish's conquering of Superman, Green
Lantern,
Firestorm, and Black Canary. Tornado and the rest of the League teamed up
and defeated Starro. After the Starro incident, Tornado found his internal
circuitry failing, but was soon repaired by his new friend, Arnold Tracy of
Electronic Tools, Inc.
T.O. Morrow, meanwhile, was still trying to discover why Red Tornado turned
against him. Morrow created two new Red Tornadoes and sent them against the
League, but neither of them possessed the "life force" that the real Red
Tornado possessed. Morrow captured the Red Tornado from his apartment in New
York and began a detailed examination of him. Kathy Sutton, who was on hand for the kidnapping, teamed up with the Justice League and the team scoured the
planet looking for him. Just as The Flash realized that Morrow was behind
Tornado's disappearance, Aquaman discovered Morrow's hideout just as Morrow
began dissecting Red Tornado. As the laser pierced his shell, Tornado
exploded. When the League appeared on the scene, they found themselves face-
to-face with a shocked Morrow and the recreated Tornado Tyrant, which they
had faced years before.
As the Leaguers battled the Tornado Tyrant, Firestorm happened across a
weakened Tornado Champion, which told him his story and his merging with
the android shell. When Morrow dissected Red Tornado, but Tornadoes were
released. The Tornado Champion tells Firestorm that the only way to
defeat the Tyrant is for the two sentient tornadoes to merge again.
Firestorm suggests using his powers to reconstruct the original Red Tornado.
The Champion agrees, but warns Firestorm that the remerged Red Tornado
will not remember either the Tornado Tyrant or Tornado Champion. The
Champion flies into the heart of the Tyrant, and Firestorm reforms them into
the android Red Tornado. Firestorm decides, as the Tornado Champion had
suggested, to keep Tornado's real origin a secret, and the reformed hero,
confused, rejoins Firestorm and the rest of the defeated League.---
Even alone, Red Tornado was the able hero, aiding Superman in solving the
mystery of the Unknown Soldier. Along with the League, Supergirl, and the
Legion of Super-Heroes, Red Tornado tackled the villainous Mongul and a
Sun-Eater under his control. During the League's anniversary, he and the
Phantom
Stranger battled a mind-controlled Aquaman to a standstill, and, with the help
of Zatanna, Wonder Woman, Hawkman
I, and Atom II saved the Batman from accidental
genetic restructuring by an alien Hospital Starship.
Firestorm's enemy, Killer
Frost, escaped from a prison in limbo and decided
to exact revenge by freezing the entire populace of New York City. Keeping
all but Mayor Koch and Firestorm free, Frost made Firestorm her unwitting
slave. Frost wanted the most macho male, actor Curt Holland, as her slave,
and sent Firestorm to fetch him. Firestorm, however, recruited the Justice
League to aid him. Professor Stein and the Red Tornado developed a super-
freeze engine which they hid in Tornado's torso. Tornado, disguised as
Holland, got close enough to Frost to freeze her once again.
About this time, Red Tornado witnessed the almost-marriage
of Wonder Woman and Steven Trevor. He joined the Batman, Black Canary, Green
Arrow, and Hawkman in tracking down the Atom, who was lost in the Microcosmos.
Red Tornado teamed up with the League, the New Teen
Titans, and Superman to
stop the invasion plans of the evil Brainiac as well as helping the League
defeat such foes as Doctor Destiny, Professor
Ivo, and the evil Johnny Thunder
of Earth-1. Red Tornado also aided the Justice League, the Outsiders, and the
World's Finest duo of Batman and Superman fight the self-styled god Zeta and
his Pantheon on a myriad of worlds. After that, he joined the League,
Superman, the Titans, and the United States in celebrating Supergirl's
anniversary.
As a Leaguer, he helped defeat the villain Paragon and participated on the
League's investigation of the Fiatlux Conspiracy, which ended in the defeat of
the demon Hellrazer. Tornado was part of the League that was assembled to
repel a Martian invasion. Though Tornado was damaged during the Martian's
first strike, he managed to hold on long enough to see J'onn J'onzz defeat
his misguided Martian brethren. Aquaman, disappointed in the League's
performance, decided to disband the current League in favor for one that could
devote 100 percent to the League. Red Tornado, who had decided that his life
with Kathy Sutton and Traya came first, left the League.
After a rat ate through the device designed to contain
The Construct, the
maniacal machine wished to seek vengeance on one of his captors, the Red
Tornado. The Construct began the slow process of taking over the minds of
all the inhabitants of Earth, starting with the original League. He had
the League first denounce Red Tornado, then had Superman disassemble the
robotic hero. Sutton, realizing something was wrong, tracked down T.O. Morrow
to ask his help. Morrow discovered the presence of the Construct just before
he, too, was possessed. After a valiant last stand, the other heroes were
soon possessed, as well as the rest of the world. Kathy eventually found
the Tornado, and convinced him not to give up on humanity. Tornado tracked
down the Construct and defeated him.
Red Tornado lived a nice, quiet life with Kathy and Traya until the
Crisis
on Infinite Earths. The Anti-Monitor, fearing trouble, captured key heroes
who had traversed the dimensional rifts. Two such heroes were The Flash and
Red Tornado. The Red Tornado eventually escaped from the Anti-Monitor's
clutches, but his robotic body was booby-trapped. Brought aboard the League's
abandoned Satellite, Red Tornado's body exploded, destroying the Satellite
for good and sending pieces Earthward.
Leaguers Martian
Manhunter, Vibe, and Steel I, with ex-Leaguers Black Canary,
Green Arrow, and Firestorm, protected Earth from the falling debris, while
Elongated Man and Zatanna investigated what they thought were Crisis-related
weather aberrations. The League discovers Tornado's carcass as Kathy Sutton receives
several mysterious summons by Red Tornado to come to Gotham
City, and meets
up with Batman, Black Lightning, and Geo-Force. Dale Gunn tries to rebuild
Tornado, but it is beyond his capabilities. All the Leaguers, including
Superman and Kathy Sutton, are suddenly brought to Hoover Dam, where they
encounter a huge tornado-like creature and reveals itself to by the Tornado
Essence, a merging of the Tornado Champion and the Tornado Tyrant. Somehow
now tied to Earth, the Tornado has been known to, though the harsh weather, rid the
Earth of the humans that harm it. Superman retrieved Tornado's body and
Firestorm tried to merge them together as he did once before. The merging,
along with the pleading of Kathy Sutton, serves to calm the Tornado, but,
remaining a kind of living Tornado, and leaves to see where the wind takes him.
Red Tornado has most recently been acting as a mentor to the teen
heroes of Young Justice, but nothing is
known of his activities since that group's disbanding.
Notes:
-
His personality
type, emotional state, and temperament are unknown, and he should therefore
be treated as a wild card in any confrontation.
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