In recent months, it seems like DC Comics has been overly focused on death. This is largely thanks to the DC K.O. event, which has seen several popular heroes die as part of a cosmic tournament. However, one recent Justice League comic helped restore a beloved member of the team to their former glory.
The restoration came in Justice League Red #6, by Saladin Ahmed and Clayton Henry. The series centered around an elite squad organized by the robotic hero Red Tornado. This new team was meant to prevent future disasters by undertaking covert missions. Red Tornado seemingly formed this team to act as his arms and legs on the field, due to his physical form being destroyed during the Absolute Power event. This left Red Tornado as a hologrammatic being, confined to the Justice League Watchtower.
However, the new Justice League Red soon became suspicious of Red Tornado’s real intentions. Many of their actions seemed to be hurting people rather than saving them. When the team confronted Red Tornado on this, they discovered that he had evolved into a new artificial intelligence.
Dubbing himself the Crimson Cloud, this new AI acted from a position of pure logic. He constructed himself a new form using the nanites meant to be rebuilding Red Tornado’s original body. This body acted as the CPU for the Crimson Cloud, who intended to build a better world regardless of how many people died in the process.
How Justice League’s Red Tornado was restored
Unfortunately, the Crimson Cloud had planned on how to counter the powers of the rest of Justice League Red. The only hero who was able to affect it was Red Canary; a martial artist who drew on the power of The Red. Even then, her attacks only seemed to stir the Red Tornado body within the Crimson Cloud.
Eventually, Justice League Red reasoned that it was that connection to The Red, which connects all animal life in the DC Universe, which was calling to the original Red Tornado. Using that connection, Red Canary was able to talk to the android hero. She reminded him of what it meant to be alive and the value of humanity’s random nature. This pushed Red Tornado to fight his “upgrade,” allowing him to reassert control of his now fully-repaired robot body. This restored the classic Red Tornado.
Justice League Red #6 is now available at comic shops everywhere.
