engineering

Red Tornado

Red Tornado is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Red Tornado rather than just read about it. In short: Red Tornado is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. As the second character to assume the identity of Red Tornado, he is the result of an android being merged with a sentient tornado by T.O.

Key takeaways

Red Tornado belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Red Tornado to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Red Tornado from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Red Tornado is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. As the second character to assume the identity of Red Tornado, he is the result of an android being merged with a sentient tornado by T.O. Morrow. Red Tornado appears in the TV series Supergirl, portrayed by Iddo Goldberg. Additionally, Corey Burton, Jeff Bennett, and Jason J. Lewis have voiced the character in animation.

Creation Fox was interviewed about the character's creation stating, "The Red Tornado was a takeoff on a character (Ma Hunkel) from way back in the early '40s but she was a woman and we thought we'd bring a new version of the character in to get a new angle on a plot. I am certain that this idea was Julie's."

Publication history Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Dick Dillin, the sentient android Red Tornado first appeared in Justice League of America #64 (August 1968). The Red Tornado name had previously been used for comical superheroine Ma Hunkel, who was introduced in All-American Comics in 1939 as a supporting character in Scribbly the Boy Cartoonist. She started using the Red Tornado name in 1940. The 1968 Red Tornado was a sentient android able to generate tornado-speed winds enabling it to fly and perform other wind-related feats. Originally a member of the Justice Society of America, it moved to another dimension and joined the Justice League of America. Red Tornado's body was characteristically damaged or destroyed. It was retconned in 1981, briefly programmed with Ma Hunkel's memory (rather than being sentient) until an older alien supervillain (the Tornado Champion) inhabits the android body. In a 1984 retcon, the Tornado Champion never inhabited the android body. Instead, an elemental air occupied the android. A 2011 reboot of the DC Comics universe, The New 52, eliminated Red Tornado from DC Comics (although other characters have hinted at its existence).

Fictional character biography

Silver Age Red Tornado

Ulthoon, the Tornado Tyrant, and the Tornado Champion Red Tornado was formed with the merger of two entities: an android body created by supervillain T. O. Morrow and the Tornado Champion from the planet Rann. The Tornado Champion was the morally good part of a sentient tornado on Rann. Known as Ulthoon, the Tornado Tyrant of Rann, this being was defeated by Adam Strange and "contemplated the nature of good and evil and decided that good was the superior force". Ulthoon is aware of Strange's adventure with the Justice League of America (JLA), and in a 1963 story decides to move to an uninhabited replica of Earth. Ulthoon takes on the form of the Justice League. Its evil side, later known as the Tornado Tyrant, emerges and defeats Ulthoon-Justice League. Determined to understand its failure, the Tornado Champion goes to Earth (where the Tornado Tyrant emerges again and defeats the real Justice League). In a second attack, the Justice League banishes the Tornado Tyrant to an "anti-matter universe" and (they believe) is destroyed. The Tornado Champion ends his experiment with a duplicate Earth and JLA, and decides to continue being a hero. This story is retconned in Justice League of America #193, where the Tornado Champion tells JLA member Firestorm that it alone traveled to Earth in 1963 to "recreate" its failed battle against the Tornado Tyrant. After learning how to defeat its evil half it returned to the replica Earth, defeated its evil half and banished it "forever". The next step in Red Tornado's evolution came in summer 1968, although the story was not published until 1981. The Tornado Champion, seeking an Earth where no one recognizes it, goes to the alternate dimension known in the DC Comics universe as Earth-Two. It encounters T.O. Morrow, a supervillain from Earth-One who is creating an android to use against the Justice Society of America. Morrow, attempting to dupe the JSA, gives the android Ma Hunkel's memory. The Tornado Champion enters the android's body, causing a short circuit in Morrow's computer which erases its memory.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Red Tornado: Red Tornado as he appears in Justice League Action. — Red Tornado as he appears in Justice League Action.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Red Tornado

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Red Tornado claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Red Tornado before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Red Tornado ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Red Tornado

In research: Red Tornado appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Red Tornado in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Red Tornado is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Characters created by Dick Dillin, Characters created by Gardner Fox, Comics characters introduced in 1968, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Red Tornado outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Red Tornado in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Red Tornado means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Red Tornado out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Red Tornado in simple terms?

Why does Red Tornado matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Red Tornado?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Red Tornado.