# Red Tornado
**Red Tornado** is a [DC Comics](https://www.edgepedia.org/dc-comics) superhero, an android inhabited by two sentient air elementals, created by the villain T.O. Morrow to infiltrate the [Justice Society of America](https://www.edgepedia.org/justice-society-of-america) who instead became a longtime member of the Justice League of America, first appearing in *Justice League of America* #64 (August 1968)[1](https://comicvine.gamespot.com/red-tornado/4005-1688) • [2](https://www.cosmicteams.com/profiles/redtornado.html). He is a modernized successor to a distinct [Golden Age](https://www.edgepedia.org/golden-age) character of the same name, Ma Hunkel, a housewife hero of 1940[3](https://www.comics.org/character/10677/).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| First appearance (android) | *Justice League of America* #64, August 1968, story "The Stormy Return of the Red Tornado"[2](https://www.cosmicteams.com/profiles/redtornado.html) • [4](https://www.dcuguide.com/Red_Tornado_(John_Smith)) |
| Precursor | The Tornado Tyrant, by Gardner Fox and Carmine Infantino, *Mystery in Space* #61 (August 1960)[2](https://www.cosmicteams.com/profiles/redtornado.html) |
| Golden Age namesake | Ma Hunkel became the Red Tornado in *All-American Comics* #20 (November 1940); honorary Justice Society member[3](https://www.comics.org/character/10677/) |
| Powers | Cyclonic winds over 400 mph, faster than the deadliest hurricane; flight; air currents that can level huge skyscrapers in seconds[2](https://www.cosmicteams.com/profiles/redtornado.html) • [1](https://comicvine.gamespot.com/red-tornado/4005-1688) |
| Human identity | John Smith, adopted in *Justice League of America* #106 (July 1973)[2](https://www.cosmicteams.com/profiles/redtornado.html) |
| Family | Adopted daughter Traya Sutton; android siblings Red Torpedo II, Red Inferno, and Red Volcano[4](https://www.dcuguide.com/Red_Tornado_(John_Smith)) |
| Current status (2025) | A bodiless administrator of the Justice League Watchtower in *Justice League Red* by Saladin Ahmed[5](https://www.dc.com/blog/2025-08-22/decoding-red-saladin-ahmed-discusses-dc-s-newest-team) |
## Publication history and creation
The android's lineage begins with a 1960 precursor. Gardner Fox and Carmine Infantino introduced the Tornado Tyrant in *Mystery in Space* #61 (August 1960)[2](https://www.cosmicteams.com/profiles/redtornado.html). Eight years later, an android Red Tornado debuted in *Justice League of America* #64 (August 1968), appearing to the Justice Society programmed with the memories of the Golden Age predecessor, Mathilda Hunkel, making him an odd successor to a late-middle-aged housewife hero[2](https://www.cosmicteams.com/profiles/redtornado.html) • [1](https://comicvine.gamespot.com/red-tornado/4005-1688). Comic Vine frames the 1968 debut as DC's science-fiction modernization of that Golden Age character, and notes that Red Tornado underwent the largest transformation of any such Silver Age modernization, going from housewife to futuristic android[1](https://comicvine.gamespot.com/red-tornado/4005-1688).
Creator credit is contested. The DCU Guide credits the android's creation to writer Denny O'Neill and artist Dick Dillin[4](https://www.dcuguide.com/Red_Tornado_(John_Smith)), while Comic Vine states the character was first written by Gardner Fox and drawn by Dick Dillin in 1968[1](https://comicvine.gamespot.com/red-tornado/4005-1688).
The alias John Smith debuted in *Justice League of America* #106 (July 1973)[2](https://www.cosmicteams.com/profiles/redtornado.html).
## Fictional character biography
**The Morrow plot.** The super-villain T.O. Morrow built the Red Tornado android to infiltrate the Justice Society of America after his future-predicting Humaniztron machine told him to build it, loading the android with the machine's knowledge of the Society[2](https://www.cosmicteams.com/profiles/redtornado.html). The android instead became a noble hero and [Justice League](https://www.edgepedia.org/justice-league) member[1](https://comicvine.gamespot.com/red-tornado/4005-1688).
**The elemental within.** The origin linking the android to the earlier wind-being was established over time. A 1977 profile by Mark Gruenwald in *The Amazing World of DC Comics* #14 proposed that T.O. Morrow trapped Ulthoon the Tornado Champion inside the artificial body, where the computer-brain took over the wind-being's consciousness; *Justice League of America* #192 (July 1981) by Gerry Conway and [George Pérez](https://www.edgepedia.org/george-perez) then formally tied the android's origin to the Tornado Champion and Tornado Tyrant[2](https://www.cosmicteams.com/profiles/redtornado.html). Cosmic Teams describes the android as inhabited by two powerful sentient air elementals, the Tornado Champion and Tornado Tyrant[2](https://www.cosmicteams.com/profiles/redtornado.html). The DCU Guide instead records the Tornado Champion as born on the planet Rann and originally the criminal Tornado Tyrant[4](https://www.dcuguide.com/Red_Tornado_(John_Smith)).
**Earth-Two to Earth-One.** After an explosion opened a rift between dimensions and sent the android from [Earth-Two](https://www.edgepedia.org/earth-two) to Earth-One, Morrow located him, sculpted him a face, and reprogrammed him to destroy the Justice League. Unable to return to Earth-Two, he received temporary League membership, adopted the John Smith identity, and worked as a laboratory technician for Dr. Bruce Gordon[2](https://www.cosmicteams.com/profiles/redtornado.html).
**Family.** Red Tornado and his partner Kathy Sutton became guardians of a young Quraci orphan named Traya in *Justice League of America* #152[2](https://www.cosmicteams.com/profiles/redtornado.html). The DCU Guide records his android family as Red Torpedo II ("sister"), Red Inferno, and Red Volcano ("brothers"), with Traya Sutton as adopted daughter[4](https://www.dcuguide.com/Red_Tornado_(John_Smith)). When the android's shell was recovered after one of his destructions, Kathy Sutton asked Will Magnus, creator of the Metal Men, to reassemble her husband, a direct link between Red Tornado and DC's other famous android lineage[2](https://www.cosmicteams.com/profiles/redtornado.html).
**Later team eras.** He later joined the supernatural group the Leymen (*Primal Force* #0) and was awakened by [Young Justice](https://www.edgepedia.org/young-justice) in *Young Justice* #1 (1998), serving as that team's advisor and JLA liaison[2](https://www.cosmicteams.com/profiles/redtornado.html). In 2009 DC published a four-issue miniseries written by Kevin VanHook with art by Jose Luis, which shone a new light on the android's true origin, uncovered his true android family, and threatened his adopted human one[6](https://www.dc.com/comics/red-tornado-2009/red-tornado-1).
**Reboots.** [The New 52](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-new-52) rebooted Red Tornado as a figure from Earth-2, a robot whose body ultimately served as a home for [Lois Lane](https://www.edgepedia.org/lois-lane)'s mind; a classic Red Tornado was then "Rebirthed" in *Dark Knights: Metal* #1 (October 2017)[2](https://www.cosmicteams.com/profiles/redtornado.html).
## Powers and abilities
Red Tornado is an android inhabited by two sentient air elementals[1](https://comicvine.gamespot.com/red-tornado/4005-1688). He can generate cyclonic winds faster than the deadliest hurricane, over 400 mph[2](https://www.cosmicteams.com/profiles/redtornado.html), and create air currents able to level huge skyscrapers in seconds[1](https://comicvine.gamespot.com/red-tornado/4005-1688). Comic Vine also credits him with channeling cyclone-force winds through his limbs, flight at high speed, absorbing air, withstanding a missile hit and ocean depths, occasionally moving so fast he becomes invisible, and resistance to biologically based mental powers such as Starro's mind control[1](https://comicvine.gamespot.com/red-tornado/4005-1688).
The android body itself is repeatedly damaged and rebuilt; the character has been destroyed many times across his history[2](https://www.cosmicteams.com/profiles/redtornado.html). In the 2025 series *Justice League Red*, he exists without a body at all: his disembodied computer consciousness perceives algorithmic predictions of consequences at a "million-foot vantage point" that even Batman or Superman cannot match, allowing him to detect threats only he can see[5](https://www.dc.com/blog/2025-08-22/decoding-red-saladin-ahmed-discusses-dc-s-newest-team).
## By the numbers
The character's publication footprint spans named-issue debuts in 1940 (Ma Hunkel's Red Tornado, *All-American Comics* #20), 1960 (Tornado Tyrant, *Mystery in Space* #61), 1968 (android, *Justice League of America* #64), and 1973 (John Smith alias, *JLA* #106)[3](https://www.comics.org/character/10677/) • [2](https://www.cosmicteams.com/profiles/redtornado.html). Solo and team vehicles include a four-issue 1985 limited series, *Primal Force* (14 issues, 1994–95), *Young Justice* (55 issues, 1998–2003), and a second four-issue limited series in 2009[2](https://www.cosmicteams.com/profiles/redtornado.html) • [6](https://www.dc.com/comics/red-tornado-2009/red-tornado-1). The DCU Guide gives his android casing as 6'1" and 325 lbs, based in New York City[4](https://www.dcuguide.com/Red_Tornado_(John_Smith)).
## In other media
In animation, Red Tornado was voiced by [Powers Boothe](https://www.edgepedia.org/powers-boothe) in *Justice League Unlimited* (including "The Great Brain Robbery"), by [Corey Burton](https://www.edgepedia.org/corey-burton) in *Batman: The Brave and the Bold* (debuting in "Invasion of the Secret Santas" and central to "Hail the Tornado Tyrant"), and by [Jeff Bennett](https://www.edgepedia.org/jeff-bennett) in *Young Justice* (2010–2013), where Bennett also voiced T.O. Morrow and Red Tornado served as the teen team's supervisor[1](https://comicvine.gamespot.com/red-tornado/4005-1688). The Red Tornado family appeared in the *Young Justice* episodes "Humanity" (October 21, 2011) and "Runaways" (February 2, 2013)[2](https://www.cosmicteams.com/profiles/redtornado.html). In live action, Red Tornado appeared as the villain of *Supergirl* season one, episode six, defeated by Supergirl, with pieces of him appearing in later episodes[1](https://comicvine.gamespot.com/red-tornado/4005-1688).
## What has changed since 2023
In 2025 DC launched *Justice League Red* by writer Saladin Ahmed. Red Tornado appears as the disembodied administrator of the Justice League Watchtower, assembling a small off-books team of [Cyborg](https://www.edgepedia.org/cyborg-dc-comics), Power Girl, the Green Lantern Simon Baz, Deadman, and the fledgling hero Red Canary for a special kind of mission[5](https://www.dc.com/blog/2025-08-22/decoding-red-saladin-ahmed-discusses-dc-s-newest-team).
## Reception and legacy
From its creation, the Red Tornado has been fairly underappreciated, having been destroyed many times; most of the character's major story arcs end in his destruction or reinvention[2](https://www.cosmicteams.com/profiles/redtornado.html). Across those reinventions he has accumulated a long team record: affiliations with the Justice Society of America, Justice League of America, Leymen, and Young Justice as advisor[4](https://www.dcuguide.com/Red_Tornado_(John_Smith)), plus an honorary Justice Society connection on the Golden Age side of the name[3](https://www.comics.org/character/10677/).
## References
1. [Red Tornado (Character), Comic Vine](https://comicvine.gamespot.com/red-tornado/4005-1688)
2. [Red Tornado II (Android), Cosmic Teams](https://www.cosmicteams.com/profiles/redtornado.html)
3. [GCD :: Character :: The Red Tornado, Grand Comics Database](https://www.comics.org/character/10677/)
4. [Red Tornado (John Smith), DCU Guide](https://www.dcuguide.com/Red_Tornado_(John_Smith))
5. [Decoding Red: Saladin Ahmed Discusses DC's Newest Team, DC.com](https://www.dc.com/blog/2025-08-22/decoding-red-saladin-ahmed-discusses-dc-s-newest-team)
6. [RED TORNADO #1, DC.com](https://www.dc.com/comics/red-tornado-2009/red-tornado-1)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Film characters and fictional worlds › DC Comics characters › Justice League and other DC heroes › Titles J to W*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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