Hail the Tornado Tyrant! - Recap

The Joker is running wild in Gotham City, driving through the streets in his Jokermobile. The Batman is pursuing in his own Batmobile. When the Clown Prince of Crime blocks the road with giant popcorn, it’s the ever-competitive Green Arrow who comes to the rescue, blasting through barrier with exploding rocket-arrows from his brand-new Arrowmobile. The two heroes race neck-and-neck to stop the Joker as he bounces down the street on springs. When he tries to escape by air by expanding a hot-air balloon, both heroes simultaneously bring him down with missiles. As the police haul the Joker away, Green Arrow is forced to admit the Batmobile is cool for a retro vehicle, and Batman grudgingly admits the Arrowmobile has some styles. However, when Catwoman robbers a building and escape in her Catplane, both heroes convert their vehicles planes and the competition is on again.



Red Tornado invites Batman to his laboratory where he is working on a new experiment: a new independent android incorporating the Red Tornado’s own improved circuitry. The android hero wants Batman there to verify his results since he plans to give his “son” the one thing he doesn’t possess: emotions. Batman has his doubts about the safety of the experiment, but Red Tornado notes that he’s installed a self-destruct failsafe and proceeds. The new android, which Red Tornado calls “Tornado Champion,” is if anything even less emotional than his “father.” Red Tornado is confident his software protocols will eventually integrate. Until then, they’ll work as a team.



The heroes are called to the pier where Major Disaster is using his abilities to extort $500 million from the city. The heroes attack and Batman is blown out of the sky. As he leaps to a roller coaster, Tornado Champion deflects the villain’s lightning bolts back at him and Batman leaps in to deliver the knockout punch. Red Tornado is proud of his “child,” but Major Disaster launches a sneak attack, electrocuting Tornado Champion. Batman takes down the villain while Red Tornado holds his son in his arms. Tornado Champion’s eyes flare up with energy and then he emotionally calls his creator “father.”



Back at the laboratory, Red Tornado discovers that the lightning bolt fully activated his son’s emotional circuitry. Tornado Champion is as eager as a small child to go out in the world and learn everything he can. As father and son fight crime and prevent disasters, Tornado Champion asks his father what value humans has and why some are evil. Red Tornado insists that they have an inner strength, and that kindness is preferable to cruelty, even if there is no logical explanation. Meanwhile, Batman secretly watches them from a distance.



The two androids respond to an emergency at a burning tenement building. Tornado Champion goes in to rescue two children, only to have them cower back in fear from him. He gets them safely but the children, terrified, back away and their parents tell Tornado Champion to stay away. A policeman also tells the android to back off. Tornado Champion angrily berates them for condemning him as a robot when he insists he’s just as human as they are. Red Tornado gets him away to a nearby beach and explains that humans fear what they don’t understand, but will eventually accept them. Tornado Champion angrily flies away and Batman emerges from the shadows. He wonders if the Tornado Champion’s emotional development is going as well as it should but Red Tornado insists everything is fine.



The heroes’ discussion is interrupted when Red Tornado receive a radio broadcast about Major Disaster’s escape from prison. The two heroes intercept him but are smashed aside. Tornado Champion arrives, assuring his father he would never abandon him. However, when Major Disaster badly injures Red Tornado, Tornado Champion goes berserk and beats the villain. When Batman tries to stop him, speaking of human morality, Tornado Champion declares he’s beyond human morality and smashes Batman aside. Red Tornado tries to stop him and Tornado Champion calls him naïve, and Batman is forced to disable the newly minted android.



Red Tornado takes his son back to the laboratory and admits that his son is malfunctioning but thinks he can fix the problems. Batman says that Red Tornado has no choice but to activate the failsafe, and the android reluctantly agrees. He “destroys” his son and leaves with Batman. Once they’re gone, Tornado Champion reactivates, having secretly destroyed the failsafe. He uses the laboratory equipment to upgrade himself into a new, more powerful form with which to destroy humanity. He rechristens himself the Tornado Tyrant



Tornado Tyrant begins his purging of humanity by directing his winds at the pier, creating giant tidal waves. Batman and Red Tornado go after the renegade android, equipped with a scrambler that can purge his core programming and destroy him once and for all. Tornado Tyrant knocks Batman back and Red Tornado tries to match winds with his son. Tornado Tyrant’s tornado-generating powers are superior and he ruthlessly crushes his father between two cars. Broken but unbowed, Red Tornado insists that humans deserve survival because they are capable of love, and that it was love that created Tornado Tyrant. Tornado Tyrant scoffs at the notion and prepares to destroy his creator, but Batman swings in and slams the scrambler into his forehead. Red Tornado slams his hands into his son’s chest. Tornado Tyrant, his programming uncorrupted, says, “Father?” but Red Tornado activates his tornado power, blasting the android apart before it can do any more harm.



Later, Batman tries to comfort Red Tornado, but the android says that it has no understanding of humans or emotions and simply parrots what he’s seen and heard humans say. Batman doesn’t believe it but Red Tornado unemotionally destroys every last scrap of his wayward son. Batman leaves and Red Tornado notices a single liquid discharge from his eye… and goes off to diagnose the problem.

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