Lately the DC Universe-based television series from producer Greg Berlanti like Arrow, The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow have been adding some pretty obscure and out there characters from the pages of the comics. Earth-2 Flash, Jay Garrick, Jesse Quick, Rip Hunter, Vandal Savage, Dr. Light…the list goes on and on. No character from the DC Comics Encyclopedia would appear to be too small or too weird.
Now Berlanti’s upcoming Supergirl series on CBS is adding another DC Comics mainstay to its lineup, one that has been a longtime member of the Justice League, but has never had a live-action incarnation before: the android Red Tornado. Why has it taken so long? Probably because his look and powers are, shall we say, a bit on the goofy side.
According to reports, actor Iddo Goldberg (Defiance, Peaky Blinders) has been cast for the role of Dr. T.O. Morrow and the Red Tornado, the living machine who can create, well…big giant tornadoes (look, it’s right there in his name). Warner Bros. Television describes the character as “the most advanced android the world has ever seen. Designed by scientist T.O. Morrow for the U.S. Army as the ultimate superweapon, he soon becomes sentient, posing a grave danger to National City — including the people Supergirl cares about most.”
Now, in the pages of the comics, Dr. T.O. Morrow wasn’t the Red Tornado; rather, he was only the android’s creator. The Red Tornado eventually rebelled against his evil creator, similar to how the android Vision rebelled against his creator Ultron over at Marvel. The report stresses that on the Supergirl series, Dr. Morrow and the Red Tornado are played by the same actor, so maybe his brain patterns get uploaded into the android, and maybe Dr. Morrow isn’t just a bad guy in this version of the story. All I know is that when he shows up, he better have a big yellow arrow on his head pointing down.
The Supergirl series premiere airs Monday, October 26 at 8:30 PM. The series will then move to its regular Monday 8 PM slot the following week, November 2.
HT: ComicBook.com
IMAGE: Ed Benes, from Red Tornado #1
