History Behind DCUO: Iconic Armors, Tier 1: PVE

I'm going to do the Iconic Armors in terms of tiers. I'm also going to do PvE and PvP as separate updates, though each hopefully won't take too long. In addition, they are going to focus on the armors themselves- the characters they are associated with are going be in other updates. There will occasionally be exceptions to this, if I can't really think of an update where they will g. To start things off....

Speed Force Spectrum

Considering I literally don't have anything to add here, I guess I'll explain the Speed Force. The speed Force was introduced by Mark Waid and, from what I can tell, first appeared around Flash volume 2 #97 (January 1995), which was part of the Terminal Velocity storyline. In said story, Wally West was attempting to find out how his cousin Bart Allen, grandson of the second Flash, Barry Allen, had super speed. One elder speedster, Max Mercury, introduced the cast to the concept of what he called the "Speed Force".

As he explained, the Speed Force is an extra dimensoinal energy and place, a sort of realm of pure energy from which speedsters draw their power from. It explains how the Flash doesn't have problems with mass or perception of time, despite Relativity. It explains how the Flash's costume-or the Flash itself- isn't torn apart by sheer friction. In short, it was intended as a simple MacGuffin to explain the physics problems behind the Flash.

Max Mercury further explained that he had brushed against the Speed Force several times. When he had gotten his powers (From a Native American shaman), he had felt a great urge to push them as far as he could. When he did, he ended up coming into contact against a sort of extra-dimensional wall that rebounded him straight into the future. He did this several more times, until he ended up in the 20th century. He superheroed in the second World War as Quicksilver (His origin- he was originally a Quality Comics character prior to Mark Waid revamping him.)

During a big fight with Kobra, Wally ended up flying head first into the Speed Force. Inside, it was revealed it was a sort of paradise for speedsters. This aspect was re-used several times, most notably in Infinite Crisis #4, January 2006, and 2009's Flash Rebirth miniseries. Wally ended up finding his way back to Earth through his 'lightning rod'- his girlfriend Linda Parks. As sappy as this sounds, it actually has been quite well done in the many times this particular chestnut has been brought out.

The Speed Force was just sort of a catch-all explanation for various Speedster related stuff, though it wasn't really explained much until Geoff's second Flash run. In issue 12 of that particular run, it was revealed that the Speed Force was literally time itself. This actually makes some sense, if you think of space-time as being one thing instead of being separated. I'll give Geoff a pass on this 'crazy' revelation.

STEELsuit MK-1
This is an odd one, since it's pretty much Steel's armor, and this ain't for talking about the characters.This is a problem when it comes to armored characters with iconic armors based on them- talking about their armor pretty much is them. However, one piece of equipment from this suit is based on something specific- the Entropy Aegis Headguard derives from the ill regarded Our Worlds at War event from 2001.

The event in question revolved around the villain Imperiex, who was a living embodiment of entropy and who wanted to create a new universe by starting a new Big Bang. During said event, Imperiex utilized "probes", which were essentially smaller versions of himself. One such probe was defeated by the forces of Apokalypse, and was crafted into a suit of armor that harnessed the powers of entropy and Apokalyptian science. Superman had been intended to wear the armor against Imperiex, but turned down the armor. Instead, a wounded John Henry Irons instead was bound to it. That all took place in Superman: Man of Steel #117, October 2001.

The armor was used a few more times before the storyline came to a head  in Superman Vs. Darkseid: Apokalypse Now, a one shot from March 2003. The armor had steadily corrupted John Henry Irons, allowing Darkseid to take sway over him. He was unbound from him when Superman and various other allies, including Steel's niece Natasha Irons, helped combat Darkseid.

Fate's Faith
Despite being sold by Raven, this suit is based on the so-called Vestments of Fate. We'll talk about the good Doctor at a later date, but we'll focus on his outfit here in the now, with brief nods for some of the piece names.

There are three parts that make up the Vestments: The Helmet of Fate (Sometimes called the Helmet of Nabu), the Amulet of Anubis and the Cloak of Destiny. We'll cover them in order of importance, from least to most.


The Cloak, I can find nothing on. Seriously, nothing. As far as I can tell, it only exists as a Vestment to cover a continuity gaff, when Kent Nelson didn't have the power of Nabu but continued superheroing as Dr. Fate.  It may not even really cover said gap outside of fandom. It's not even part of Fate's Faith, so it's not really even important here. I find that rather amusing.

The Amulet of Anubis was prominently featured in Fate's design, but wasn't actually explained until 1st Issue Special #9, December 1975.  In said issue, it was revealed that the God of Death, Anubis, had gifted his priest Khalis with the Amulet. The Amulet granted Khalis with various ill defined abilities, including mind control, as he took control of a legion of slaves to build a big ol' pyramid in honor of Anubis. When Nabu, who was sort of the OG Dr. Fate, came to blows with Khalis, he took the Amulet as a trophy of sorts. Another origin was used in the more recent JSA series, and said that the Lords of Chaos Flaw and Cutter, of Gemworld, had created it.

The Amulet has one cool power in particular. As shown in JSA #3, October 1999, the Amulet has the souls of all previous Dr. Fates dwelling in it in their own personal Heaven. In said issue, the second Star-Spangled Kid (and later Stargirl) is sucked into the Amulet amidst a fight with Mordru. Inside she meets the Golden Age Fate, Kent Nelson, and his wife Inza. They help point her to the latest Dr. Fate, Hector Hall.

By far the most important aspect of the Vestments is the Helmet. It'd be kinda weird if it weren't, considering it is the most prominent aspect, wouldn't it? The Helm first appeared in More Fun Comics #55, May 1940. The origin of the helmet wasn't elaborated on in the Golden Age, though it did go through a drastic shift in October 1941's More Fun Comics #77, where it became a half helmet that only came down to Kent Nelson's nose or so.

The Helmet has never really been explained from what I can tell. In the aforementoined 1st Issue Special, it was revealed that Nabu continued to exist inside the helmet. It's also been said that it can overtake the person wearing the helmet. This was the reason given in All-Star Squadron as to why Kent Nelson melted down part of the helmet- to lessen Nabu's influence on him.

The Helmet is one of the foremost mystic artifacts in the DCU universe. It even had its own miniseries in 2007, picking up from its appearances in Infinite Crisis.  It's also had several appearances in other media. It was an important artifact in Smallville, and is currently quite important in Young Justice. In short, it's p important.

There are a few other tidbits in the Fate's Faith set. The shoulders are called the Carcanent of Ur. In Dr. Fate's first appearance, Kent Nelson's father was exploring the Valley of Ur in Mesopotamia when he found Nabu's pyramid.

The Waistguard of Chaos Bound, the Chestplate of Order and the Helmet of Balance all come from the Lords of Chaos and Order that form the backbone of the Dr. Fate mythos. As explained in the 80s Fate series, Nabu is a member of a extra-dimensional race called the Lords of Order that are at perpetual war with the Lords of Chaos. Not much else to say about those without getting overly specific.

Metallo's Maw
Well, I can't think of a better place to stick a bio about Metallo, nor a better fit for this particular armor, so I guess he'll have to do.

Metallo is one of the higher echelons of Superman rogues, occupying a sort of niche were if there is an a long running adaptation, he will be seen. See: Superman: The Animated Series, Lois and Clark, Superboy and Smallville. He's also been in the majority of Superman games, like the Superman Returns game, or the entirely too many games based on STAS.

So, who is he? He first appeared in Action Comics #259, May 1959. Said issue is much more remembered for the first appearance of Supergirl. In said first appearance, John Corben was introduced as a journalist that led a double life as a murderous thief. Whilst attempting to flee from the scene of a murder he thought perfect, he ended up in the business end of a car wreck.

One of the astounding number of mad scientists running around in the Pre-Modern era of comics found him and transferred Corben's brain into a robot body conceptually not unlike the two Robotmen DC has had, with one twist: It used a piece of uranium as a power source. That's right- in his first appearance, he didn't have a Kryptonite core. Well, he did- Vale told Corben that a local museum had a piece of Kryptonite that could power him forever.

So he attempted to rob it, and guess what happened? It turned out Superman had (wisely) switched the Kryptonite with a piece of painted rock. Corben just sort of keeled over after that. This always made me laugh- in the height of the era of the 'no killing' rule, Superman inadvertently killed one of his villains.

John Corben never came back Pre-Crisis. In Superman #310, April 1977, Corben's brother Roger was willingly transferred into a new Metallo by the generic evil orgnization SKULL in order to get revenge on his (19 years dead, I might add) brother. This Metallo used the Kryptonite core, and a green and orange costume that has became a trademark of Metallo. This is the costume that was brought back in the New Krypton saga, and has also been elsewhere recently, such as in Brave and the Bold and a recent toy.

Roger was erased following the Crisis on Infinite Earths. In Superman vol. 2 #1, January 1987, the new Metallo was introduced. This particular origin has Corben as a two bit thug who gets in a grievous accident. Once again, Vale happens to be nearby. This time, he's a crazy anti-alien guy who somehow managed to get a hole of, and misstranslate, Jor-El's message to his son, so he wanted to make an anti-alien soldier. Vale puts Corben's extant brain into a Terminator inspired robotic skeleton made out of an experimental alloy called Metallo. Clever, no? Metal + alloy = Metallo? Yeah, it wasn't clever a quarter of a century ago, and it ain't clever now.

Anywho, Metallo turned against Vale instantly and killed Vale by snapping his neck. Remember, folks. Never help a robot, because he's just going to snap your neck. Anywho, Metallo came to blows with Superman many times over the next few years. Eventually, during the Underworld Unleashed saga, in Steel v.2 #21, he sold his soul to Neron in exchange for the ability to control and absorb machinary, becoming a giant. It was in this giant form that he most resembles his DCUO form, complete with pistsons on back.

During the end of President Luthor's presidency, Batman came to believe that Corben may have been the thug who shot the Waynes. This was after Joe Chill had been erased from canon but before he had been drawn back in. That never amounted to anything, however, and serves mainly as more trivia.


In the time sense than, Metallo has been rebooted not once, but twice. We won't talk about those, though, as they have no bearing on DCUO. You should check them out regardless, though- Superman: Secret Origin and Grant Morrison's Action Comics are both great.

Frozen Fury
Much like the above, but with Mr. Freeze replacing Metallo. I'd hope that would be obvious, though.

Mr. Freeze was created by Bob Kane (Actually Shelly Moldoff) and writer David Wood, and first appeared in Batman #121, February 1959 as Mr. Zero. He didn't take the name Mr. Freeze 'till Detective Comics #373, March 1968, though that name originated from the Adam West television series.

Mr. Freeze is one of the foremost cases for character revamps in comics. In his first appearance, he wore a gaudy as hell mauve and green affair. He also had almost no origin- it was just briefly mentoined that he was a cryogenics scientist who spilled some sort of coolant on himself. He appeared a few times in the late Silver and Bronze ages in a better costume, but it wasn't too great either. After that, nada. He wasn't even in Crisis on Infinite Earths. Heck, in Grant Morrison's Animal Man #25, wherein Animal Man goes into Comic Book Limbo, Freeze is there. The poor guy says he's been there so long he's forgotten what a human face looks like. In Robin II #1, he was unceremoniously killed off by the Joker. Oddly, despite this small

His big break came from writer Paul Dini and Hellboy artist Mike Mignola's revamp for Batman: The Animated Series. This added the now most familiar parts: his wife Nora, his name Victor Fries, his now iconic suit that this iconic armor is based on. This version of the character was formally brought into regular canon with 1997's Batman: Mr. Freeze, a one shot designed to coincide with the release of the infamous Batman & Robin. This version added in a new twist: That young Vic had been obsessed with cold as a youth, going as far as freezing animals.

Following that, Mr. Freeze frankly degraded into just another rogue. Unlike his animated counterpart, who had an actual character arc, he had been frozen (no pun intended.) During No Man's Land, he controlled a Gotham power plant for a bit. In Infinite Crisis, he was a member of the Secret Society of Supervillains. Around that time, in Cassandra Cain's Batgirl title, Nora was bizarrely resurrected as a fire themed villain named Lazara. This is best forgotten, however.

Freeze occupies the top niche of Bat Rogues these days, but rarely has any important role beyond that of a goon. He had a semi-important role in the recent night of Owls crossover, but that is beyond the scope of these articles. To keep things related to DCUO, I'll keep the history Pre-New 52, though I have been totally digging the new universe.

Aegis of Azarath
Yeah, there isn't anything here I can't cover when we get to Raven/Trigon/Brother Blood, so let's keep that one for another day.

History Behind DCUO: Vengence of Bane

In honor of a certain film that hit theaters a little over a month ago, I thought I'd do a sort of mini History of DCUO for it. And here... we... go...

Bane
Bane is perhaps the most iconic and successful of all modern Batman villains. I'm not even sure this could be in doubt. He first appeared in Batman: Vengence of Bane, January 1993 and was created by the inimitble early '90s team of Chuck Dixon and Grahm Nolan, with apparently some help from other Bat-scribe Dough Moench. (Side note: his name is said monk, apparently.) The character was explicitly designed to be a sort of anti-Batman, like so many other Bat Rogues like Killer Moth or Prometheus. Bane was more along the lines of the Doc Savage aspect of Batman, however, the sort of Peak Human omni-talented ubermensch.

Bane's origin is recounted in his first appearance. His father was a rebel in the ficticious South American country of Santa Prisca, which had prevoiusly appeared in Bat Chief Editor Denny O'Neil's magnificent Question series. The rebellion was short lived and unsucsessful, however. Most of the rebels were captured and imprisoned or executed. Bane's father- his identity was kept hidden in the original stories, but Batman: Gotham Knights #47, January 2004, revealed it to be King Snake, a Robin villain- skipped country instead. Under Santa Priscan law, a male heir was allowed to take his place instead. Bane's pregnant mother was arreseted and kept in the sadistic prison Peña Dura 'till they could find out if her kid would be male or not.

Bane spent his youth in the prison, his only company being his mother, who died when he was about five, and his teddy bear. However, he ended up on the wrong side of a particularly violent pedophile, who knocked him over a catwalk, knocking him into a coma. Whilst in this coma, Bane has a vision of a great Bat, symbolizing all of his fears. The bat tells him to become the Bane of everything, and that the weak exist to be subservient to the strong.

After waking up from his coma, Bane goes to the pedophile and gets revenge on him. As punishment, the warden sentences Bane to a special solitary cell that is under sea level. Every night it flooded and Bane was forced to swim to survive. He spent roughly ten years in this cell before he was released back into gen pop. Here, he establishes himself as the King of the prison.

This particular achievement gains him the notice of an experiment the prison is running on a new drug code named Venom. Bane is able to survive the experiment, which no one else had.  Shortly thereafter, Bane, with his three 60s garage rock named flunkies Trogg, Zombie and Bird in tow, kill the warden and escape from Pena Duro and leave for Gotham to confront the mysterious "Bat-Man". When there, Bane confronts the Bat-Man briefly.

This was, of course, build up to the big Batman event of  1993, Knightfall. In the opening salvos of Knightfall, Bane blows out the gates to Arkham Aslyum and Blackgate Prison (Batman #491, April 1993), releasing all of the inmates into Gotham. Batman spent several nights rounding them all up.  The villains tax him mentally- Scarecrow and Joker are among those he has to round up- and physically. This allowed Bane to easily beat the exhausted Batman, culminating in him picking up the wounded vigilante and cracking him over his knee like a stick (Batman #497, July 1993.) This paralyzes Batman, making him one of the few villains to ever actually best Batman in combat. With Batman crippled, Bane takes his place as king of the Gotham underworld.

Note something important here: He does not just beat Batman in a match of strength. Bane is smart- he allows the rest of the Bat rogues to do most of his work for him, whittling down Batman. This allows him to pretty much beat Batman with little effort on his part. Adaptations frequently miss this part.

Anywho, Batman was replaced by John Paul Valley, better known as Azrael. In Batman #500, he confronts Bane in a mechanical Bat suit that will be discussed at a later date. Azrael severs the tubes that feed Bane Venom, causing him to go into withdraw. Azrael then precedes to beat the crap out of Bane, leaving him for dead. That was pretty much the end of Bane's purpose in the Knightfall crossover.

Bane drifted to and fro after this. In 1995's Vengence of Bane II: The Redemption, he swears off of Venom, a promise that, for over a decade, was indeed kept. In 1996's Legacy crossover, he shows up as the Ubu to Ra's Al Ghul; this was not explained for several year's, until 1998's Bane of the Demon. In a bizarre story in 2002, Bane comes to believe that his mysterious father, whom he had been told was an American doctor, was none other than Thomas Wayne! This was quickly forgotten. Eventually it came out that his father was the aforementioned King Snake. He responded by killing him.

Following Infinite Crisis, Bane rediscovers his purpose. As said in May 2006's Infinite Crisis #7: "I finally know who I am. I am Bane. I break people." In Checkmate vol. 2 #8, he comes to blows with Checkmate over his rule of Santa Prisca, which he had taken over since the Crisis. He ends up confronting, and being beaten by, Tommy Jagger, the son of the Judomaster, whom Bane killed in Infinite Crisis. It was also during this time Bane encountered Hourman III and his father, the original Hourman. This is covered more later in this article.

Bane's last major character development came courtesy of Gail Simone's Secret Six. In Secret Six #1, September 2008, Bane became a member of the rogue Anti-Villain group. Bane had a lot of crazy adventures I haven't read yet and during which he became good friends with Vandal Savage's daughter, became king of Skartaris, blessed Dick Grayson and rode dinosaurs, among other things. He's appeared since then, but it hasn't been too major.

Osito
The  item Osito's Band, which can drop in the lighthouse instance, bears the name of Bane's teddy bear from his childhood in Pena Duro. Granted, it's just Spanish for "Little Bear", but the reference is clear. Osito only appeared in Vengance of Bane, but did have a brief cameo in Bane's origin backup in Countdown to Final Crisis #7, from March 2007. He also was released as an accessory to the Bane figure in Mattel's DC Superheroes line around 2005. That's a pretty cool accessory! Too bad a bunch of figures were released without it.

Osito was Bane's only comfort after his mother died as a child, and he is rarely seen in Vengance of Bane prior to his revelation without him. When he gets revenge on the sadistic warden of Pena Duro by tossing him out of a helicopter as he escapes, he tosses Osito to "keep him company".

It's small allusions like this that make me love DCUO.

Venom
Venom first appeared in Legends of the Dark Knight 16-20. Of interesting note, this was intended as the first arc, but was nixed by writer/editor Denny O'Neil. People might not take too kindly too a new title starting with Batman on drugs, after all.

Venom, of course, is the chief super steroid in DC Comics, if not all of comics. In its earliest appearances, it takes the form of a pill. Many years later, in JSA Classified #17, November, 2006, this aspect was retconned to derived from Rex Tyler's Miraclo pill. This is the arc in which he comes to blows with the two surviving Hourmen.

In Vengence of Bane, Bane is chosen as a test subject by an anonymous doctor (Who may have been intended to be Hugo Strange) for his physical capabilities. All prior test subjects had died when their hearts literally exploded. The drug is, in this form, administered intravenously via a pack on Bane's back and controlled by a dial worn on his wrist. The tubes offer a spot to attack Bane.

Venom is highly addictive, and has potentialy lethal withdrawl. As per one source, Batman Beyond, this leads to a catch-22 where chronic Venom abuse can lead to a weakened nervous system that has to be kept active by more Venom. Also in Batman Beyond were smaller Nicotine patch-esque patches of Venom called Slappers, but that's neither here nor there. A lightened form was used in Superman/Batman's first arc by President Luthor.

History Of DCUO: Oan Sciencecells

Oa  & the ScienceCells
As far as comic book headquarters go, the Guardians of the Universe's planet Oa might be one of the best. It's not as iconic as the Batcave or the Fortress of Solitude, sure, but its still in the higher echelons. Besides, it's an entire planet that serves as the HQ for space police. That just sounds cool!


Oa first appeared in Green Lantern vol. 2 #1, August 1960, the first issue of Hal Jordan's solo title and fourth appearance overall. It was created by Silver Age DC mainstay Gardner Fox and Gil Kane. In its first appearance, it was first shown when the Guardians of the Universe call Hal Jordan to a meeting. Two things of note: This was their first appearance too, meaning Hal had zero idea about his bosses and two, he was sent there via what amounts to an "Astral Projection" using his power ring. I've always found that interesting, that the problem with planets millions of lightyears away was deftly dealt with fifty-two years ago. It was only later that the concept of transluminal speed was introduced and real life science was throw out the window.

As eventually told, the Maltusians, the species that eventually evolved into the dwarf race known as the Guardians of the Universe, came to the planet in the center of the universe that would be known as Oa following rogue Maltusian Krona's accidental creation of the Anti-Monitor, the Multiverse and maybe even the concept of "evil". The planet was a barren desert planet when they came and built their city there. In fact, their city is the only real feature of note on the entire planet.

The city's chief feature is the Central Power Battery, which first appeared in Green Lantern Vol.  2 #9, December 1961. The Central Battery serves as the reservoir for all of the Guardians willpower and as such, all Green Lantern rings draw their power from it. As Green Lantern Rebirth #3, February 2005, revealed, the Guardians sealed the Fear Entity Parallax into the Central Power Battery. This was the reason retconned for the Yellow Impurity. But we'll talk about that some other time.

Another important feature is the Book of Oa. The book first appeared in Green Lantern vol. 2 #188, May 1985 and was created by no less than Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. It appeared in the backup story "Mogo Doesn't Socialize", as a Guardian of the Universes tells a young Lantern named Arisia a Tale of the Green Lantern Corps about one of the big (but not biggest or even bigger) Lanterns named Mogo. Following the reconstruction of Oa (More on that in a sec), the Book was restored as well. In following runs, the Book was elaborated on, especially by Geoff Johns. It was Johns who introduced the idea of a Prophecy of the Blackest Night that was excised. It was also Johns who, in the Sinestro Corps aftermath, introduced the ten new laws that would be put into the Book of Oa. To the best of my knowledge, we've yet to see the full extent of these, though we do know they included lethal force being enabled.

During the event known as Emerald Twilight, when Hal Jordan went mad with grief after the destruction of Coast City (but was actually possessed by a fear demon) and destroyed the Corps, the Central Power Battery is destroyed. When that happens, the Corps is deactivated and Oa is depopulated. The Central Power Battery is rebuilt and the planet rebuilt in the graphic novel Green Lantern Legacy: The Last Will and Testament of Hal Jordan, 2002, wherein Hal's friend and mechanic Thomas Kalmaku rebuilds it with Hal's old ring. The Corps was reconstructed later, in Green Lantern Corps Recharge, November 2005 to March 2006. The planet gained another major feature following the Sinestro Corps War, massive rings that give it the shape of a Lantern that act as a shield.

The last major part of the planet, the ScienceCells first appeared in Green Lantern Vol. 2 #195, December 1985. The issue was actually a tie-in to Crisis on Infinite Earths. The ScienceCells act as holding cells for prisoners of the Lantern Corps. They are tied to the Central Power Battery, so that if the Central Power  Battery goes out, the cells open. Just like in game.

I'm going to be frank, they do not get used very often. The biggest use they've seen recently is the Emerald Eclipse arc, Green Lantern Corps vol. 2 between issues 33 and 38, April to September 2009, which saw a prison riot. More on that in Vice's bio.

Guy Gardner

 The first of the four Green Lanterns of Space Sector 2814 we're going to cover, Guy Gardner first appeared in Green Lantern vol. 2 #59, March 1968, and was created by John Broome and Gil Kane. The character was named after Gardner Fox and fan Guy H. Lillian III. That guy had a heck of a name, didn't he? His appearance was modeled after actor Martin Miller.

His first appearance was essentially a "What If?", showing Abin Sur's second choice for Green Lantern. The choice ends up coming down to mere distance- Hal Jordan is closer in proximity to Abin Sur than Guy is. What If Guy ends up becoming Green Lantern instead, and fights valiantly till succumbing to a "Yellow Plague" on an alien planet. The issue ended with Hal meeting the real Guy and becoming good friends.

Guy was quite literally put on a bus, or more accurately hit by one, in Green Lantern vol. 2 #87, December 1971, by Denny O'Neil and Neal Adams. This issue introduced a new backup Lantern, John Stewart. This crippled Guy, despite the fact that doesn't make a lick of sense for a Green Lantern. The same thing later happened to Stewart too... Anywho, Guy still appeared in GL, proposing to his girlfriend, the auspiciously named Kari Limbo. A later fight with Sinestro in issue 123, December 1979, left Guy in a coma he'd stay in until the Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Late in the Crisis, Guy woke up. This was when Guy gained what would, through Justice League International, became his most well known personality: That of an insufferable jerk. I think it was supposed to be brain damage or something. Guy ended up one of Earth's 2 Green Lanterns (This was a while before the two Lanterns per sector rule; it was a special case) after Hal quit. He was brought in by rogue Guardians. That was in vol. 2 issue #195, December 1985, the same issue that introduced the ScienceCells. This issue also introduced his new, most famous costume, that with the double breasted vest.

A word of note about this. In its first appearance, no explanation is given. It's just a new costume, presumably to differentiate Guy from the other Lanterns. That in and of itself isn't too unique. A lot of Green Lanterns had been seen with differing uniforms, such as Xax. In Keith Giffen, Gerard Jones and MD Bright's Green Lantern Emerald Dawn II, issues 4 to 6, July to September 1991, we are introduced to the so called Fist of the Guardians, a group of Manhunter-esque robots wearing the iconic vests. They act as a sort of precursor to the Alpha Lanterns, arresting rogue Lantern Sinestro. It's never outright pointed out that their vest is the same as Guy's, but it's assumed that that is of some importance.

During the Crisis, Guy leads a sort of Suicide Squad lite to destroy Qward's moon, believing this would weaken the Anti-Monitor. Turns out it would actually make him stronger. Whoops! He ended up wanted by most of the universe for this. He made his return in the Legends event of 1987, still believing himself the rightful Green Lantern and holding a pretty big grudge against Hal. He ended up in the new Justice League, what we think of as Justice League International. It was this series, by Keith Giffen and JM Dematties that really put Guy on the map. It was this series that really emphasized the jerk aspect of him, as well as having him get a new girlfriend, Tora Olafson, AKA Ice, and introducing the polar opposite of jerk Guy, the so called "Nice" Guy that happens whenever he hits his head on something. Really funny stuff.

Well, then the 90s happened. For a while after Emerald Twilight, Guy had Sinestro's original ring and wore a black leather jacket. It looked pretty cool, actually. Then he found out he was actually a shape shifting alien, and it was pretty crap. Despite that, the series was actually quite good, and shed a lot of light on Guy's past. It was this series that introduced his troubled relationship with his father, for one thing. Then he pretty much disappeared into the aether. Following Green Lantern Rebirth, he went on to become a Lantern living on Oa directly as an Honor Guard and operating the cafetiere. He's had a lot of focus in Green Lantern Corps, got his own title in Emerald Warriors for a while, became a Red Lantern in a pretty cool story and was part of the Justice League International for a while pre-Flashpoint. Guy's  had it pretty good the past few years.


Lyssa Drak, the Book of Parallax and the stuff she summons in that fight with her
Catchy title, eh?

Anywho, Lyssa Drak first in Green Lantern vol. 4 # 18, May 2007, in a "Tales of the Sinestro Corps" backup written by Geoff Johns and drawn by Watchmen artist Dave Gibbons. Unlike other Sinestro Corpsmen, Lyssa Drak has never gotten a proper origin story. In her first appearance,  and subsequent "Tales of the Sinestro Corps" backups, she assists Amon Sur in his Fear Lodge training, wherein a Sinestro Corpsman is stuck inside a sort of shell that acts as a sensory deprivation tank. Inside, the Corpsman will have to master their fears as they hallucinate. Prior to sticking Sur in the tank, she reads him tales from the Book of Parallax of the origins of other Corpsman.

A brief tangent since it's impossible to discuss Drak without mentioning the Book.of Parallax since her primary role in the Corps is the Keeper of the Book. She's even bound to it via chains. The Book, which first appeared in Green Lantern Vol. 4 #18 as well, was created as an opposite to the Book of Oa and contains the histories of Sinestro Corpsman. It details how they use fear and other tidbits about them. Not much of its history is revealed and, in fact, following the Sinestro Corps War the Book itself goes missing. Later, Drak's ring leads her to what she assumes to be the Book of Parallax and turns out to be something I'll be covering next.

Drak is from Talok IV. This is actually a refernce to the Legion of Super-Heroes comics, where Shadow Lass, a visually similar character, is from Talok VIII. Mikaal Thomas, one of the plethora of Starmen, is from Talok III and Lyrissa Mallor, founding member of LEGION, is also from Talok VIII. This explains why she looks so similar to Shadow Lass, though that serves mainly as a mythology gag than anything else.

Drak's past is mostly unexplored. We don't know how she came to be in the Sinestro Corps. She's said to be the "Story Witch", though aside from her almost pathological obsession with her books, we don't know what that really entails. She's mostly a cipher character who exists to serve as living exposition, like in the Tales of the Sinestro Corps backups. It works well for her. During the Blackest Night, she was trapped in the Book of the Black, as seen in the Untold Tales of the Blackest Night oneshot, October 2010. She was let out by Krona shortly before the War of the Green Lanterns and ended up captured by the Guardians of the Universe. Most recently, in Green Lantern vol. 5 #6, March 2012, she's been seen held up in a ScienceCell, awaiting execution for knowing too much.

Her two phases before you actually fight her invole constructs of two Sinestro Corpsman, Kretch and Karu-Sil. Kretch is a demonic entity who destroys entire worlds by flame, as Drak explains in the fight. He hasn't appeared much at all, being confined to crowd shots and a bio in the Sinestro Corps War Secret Files and Origins, June 2008. The constructs resemble him.

The three beasts she summons are the Fathers Three, three beasts who raised Karu-Sil. Karu-Sil first appeaered in Green Lantern vol. 5 #19, June 2007. As a young girl on Graxos III, a brutal planet ruled by tooth and claw, her parents were killed by raiders. The young girl was raised by carniviours beasts as one of their own. She went as far as to cut her lips off to resemble them more. Years later, as an adult, a Green Lantern inadvertently rescued her by killing the beasts she now thought of as her "Fathers Three".

She responded by attacking him. He, in turn, responded by having her instituionalized. She responded again by brutally ripping three space psychologists apart before the Sinestro Corps ring chose her. As a Sinestro Corpswoman, she chose to recreate her Fathers Three and have them dance around her like a Maypole. That's actually where her name comes from- her design was created by Ethan Van Sciver years before her introduction, as a hopeful Ghost Rider villain called Carousel.

During the Untold Tales of Blackest Night, October 2010, her Fathers Three became Black Lanterns, forcing her to kill them. It was a pretty good vignette for a character htat had little to no depth prior to htat. As a whole, that was a pretty good one shot in general, actually.

A bit about the other books
One of the various things that several of the Lantern Corps seem to share are their respective books, similar to the Book of Oa and the Book of Parallax mentioned before. The Book of the Black first appeared in Green Lantern Corps vol. 2 #33. The tome was (apparently; its rather confusing, honestly) written by a corrupted Guardian called Scar. Scar had been "killed" by the Anti-Monitor during the Sinestro Corps War, and had formed  a connection to Nekron, Lord of the Unliving and big bad of the Blackest Night.

Within the Book of the Black were dozens of prophecies that made up the Origins and Omens backups that ran in all DC titles in March 2010, teasing upcoming stories. Following the Blackest Night, the tome was discovered by Lyssa Drak, who was trapped inside it. She was let out by Krona, as mentioned above. It played a brief role in the War of the Green Lanterns, trapping the chief Lanterns of the various corps, allowing their rings to come into the possession of the Earth GLs. Kyle Raynor was able to free them, amusingly enough, by literally drawing them being freed.

Following the reboot, it was seen in Green Lantern vol. 5 #5, February 2012, when Sinestro tracked down Lyssa Drak, who had gone rogue. Within the pages, he saw prophecies of the Guardians replacing the Green Lantern Corps and other story teases for as of yet upcoming stories.

None of the other books have been seen as of yte, though the Book of Rage was mentioned by Drak in Green Lantern vol. 5 #6 whilst begging to be allowed to a Book. She says it contains "tales of revenge so sweet!" Note this came after the Fight for the Light DLC that introduced the Book investigations.

Qwardian Weaponeers, Thunderers and General Fabrikant
These here boys were arguably the chief villains early in Hal Jordan's run as Green Lantern. They've faded, but once in a while they bubble back up to the service. Qward and the Weaponeers first appeared in Green Lantern vol. 2 #2, October 1960. I'm not entirely sure on the Thunderers first appearance, as I can't really find a source, but Fabrikant first appeared in issue 125 of GL vol. 2, February 1980.


In order to talk about these guys, it's necessary to first explain exactly what Qward is. Long story short, it's a planet, sort of analogous to Earth or maybe Oa, in the Anti-Matter Universe. It's been ruled over by the Anti-Monitor before, as well as Sinestro and Qwardians in general. It was originally ruled over by the Anti-Monitor, as explained during Crisis on Infinite Earths, who created the original Thunderers.

Thunderers are the warriors of Qward, storm troopers equipped with a "Qwa-Bolt", a lightning shaped weapon capable of firing energy bolts. Eventually, the Anti-Monitor fell into a sort of coma following a confrontation with his postive matter counterpart, the Monitor. This lead to the formation of the Weaponeers of Qward.

The Weaponeers are essentially smiths. In fact, they were the ones who smithed Sinestro's first yellow ring. They were also the ruling class on Qward. They came to blows with the Green Lanterns numerous times throughout history, gaining an interest in making their own rings. Their big chance came when rogue Lantern Sinestro was exiled to the Anti-Matter world. They took this opprutunity and smithed a ring for him, using the Yellow energy of Fear.

I'm going to be honest with you. There is a lot of history with the Weaponeers I've never heard of, nor care much for. If you'd like to learn more about the Weaponeers beyond the basics, consult their page on the GL wiki. It's quite in depth!

Fabrikant is another of those Prince Ulgo or Neo Magnetism allusions. A character so hopelessly obscure I'm outright shocked he's in the game. He's had a single appearance over the years,  Green Lantern Vol. 2 #128, May 1980. He was a Qwardian general and was really short, even for his race. He was able to pose as a Earth youth named Fabian in order to get close to Hal Jordan and attempt to destroy him. It didn't work, of course. He's never been seen again, and that's pretty much all there is to him. Seriously obscure.

Vice

Vice is a Red Lantern. As such, he doesn't have much in the way of an actual history. He first appeared in Final Crisis: Rage of the Red Lanterns, December 2008. Don't let the prefix fool you; it wasn't important at all for Final Crisis and seemed like an afterthought to tie the two in. Which is fine, as both stories were perfectly fine. Vice was created by Geoff Johns and artist Shane Davis.

Vice lived in Space Sector 0013, hence the epic tier Sector 13 shoulders. His species used their multiple head spikes to decapitate their prey- one spike went into the jaw, the other went through the top of the head. Then he pulled. His mate was murdered by Arkillo of the Sinestro Corps. The rage he felt was great enough to induct him into the then new Red Lantern Corps. Vice was just another Red Lantern for the Rage of the Red Lantern story, one of the numerous literally mindless monsters that made up the Red Lantern Corps.

Following the defeat on Ysmault, home of the Red Lanterns, Vice was captured by the Green Lantern Corps and held in the ScienceCells. During the Emerald Eclipse story that ran in Green Lantern Corps vol. 2 between issues 33 and 38, April to September 2009, Vice escaped the ScienceCells after the Central Power Battery was damaged by rogue Guardian of the Universe Scar. This is why he's in the ScienceCells alert- the overall alert is likely based on the Emerald Eclipse story.

Vice was able to subdue Voz, much to the cheer of the imprisoned Sinestro Corpsman. Their cheers turned to horror, though, when the mindless beast turned and began attacking them. The riot was eventually quelled, though many prisoners were exectued by the Alpha Lanterns. When the Blackest Night happened in the next storyarc, Guy and Kyle let Vice out, since destroying the Black Lanterns required multiple Lantern colors. As soon as he's released, though, a rogue Alpha Lanterns kills him, making the whole idea  a bit of a shaggy dog story. His ring chose Guy Gardner as a replacement, the first of two times Guy has wielded the red ring.


Evil Star & the Starlings
Evil Star may just be the most obscure character in DCUO as a boss that isn't Prince Ulgo. In fact, I'm really not sure at all why he's in the game.  He first appeared Green Lantern Vol 2 #37, June 1967.

Evil Star, real name unknown, was a scientist on the far away planet of Aoran and was scared of death. So he decided to draw generic cosmic energy from the stars into a device called the "Starbrand". The device acts sort of like a Green Lantern Ring and allows him to make constructs, but it twists his mind towards evil and prematurely ages his fellow Aorans. They decided that, hey, it's a pretty bad thing that he's doing, so they try and stop him. What does Evil Star do? Kill 'em all.

His Starbrand can also create miniature versions of himself he calls "Starlings". Originally, he could only create five. They were indestructible, hence why they do not take damage in DCUO. However, during the 1996 Underworld Unleashed event, Evil Star sold his soul to the demon Neron for the ability to create a limitless amount of Starlings, though they are no longer invulnerable. The Starlings he creates are extensions of himself. If he's knocked out, they go bye-bye.

After he was defeated in his first appearance, he was actually sent to a rehabilitation center by the Guardians. A "brain wave nullfier" was used on him in an attempt to reverse the damage the Star Brand had done, but all that did was stimulate his subconscious, recreating the Starlings.  He fled to Earth, thinking the Starlings were out to get him for some reason. While he was on Earth, fought a Darkstar for some reason or another. Then the aforemtentioned soul selling took place.

Honestly, that's about it. He was briefly seen in Green Lantern as the person who was in charge of the Kroletearns, the Gremlin-esque creatures who took Black Hand apart and put him back together. It was also mentioned he was attacking a Blue Lantern's homeworld. But that's it. That's pretty much every appearance he's ever had.

Seriously, why is he in the alert?

Alpha Lanterns
All told, the Alpha Lanterns are relatively recent additions to the Lantern mythos, first appearing Green Lantern Vol. 4 #27, March 2008. They were created by Grant Morrison in preparation for his Final Crisis story, but weren't actually originally written by him. That fell to Geoff Johns, who's been chief architect for Green Lantern since 2004.

The Alpha Lanterns are former Lanterns who have been combined with Manhunter technology to create what amounts to an internal affairs bureau for the Green Lanterns. Devoid of emotion, they are supposed to be able to police a recent addition to the Corps. That being lethal force was enabled against Sinestro Corpsman. Six Green Lanterns were selected to become Alpha Lanterns, though John Stewart declined.

The Alpha Lanterns first saw duty arresting Lantern Laira, who had murdered Amon Sur following his surrender in the Sinestro Corps War. The next time the Lanterns saw major duty was in Final Crisis, the story for which they were originally created for. In issue 1, May 2008, Hal Jordan is framed for the murder of the New God Orion and his aressted by the Alpha Lanterns.  In issue 3 it became clear that Alpha Lantern Boodikka was host to the Evil God Granny Goodness. She captured Batman, which lead directly into the death of Batman story.

Following this, they've been seen here and there. They were in Blackest Night and they had their own story arc, "Revolt of the Alpha Lanterns", where they were controlled by the Cyborg Superman. I've not read those, however. That's pretty much their entire history.

Krona
All right, Krona's DCUO fight is primarily  based on a recent story, 2011's War of the Green Lanterns. Because of this, I'll keep the information about his past short because of this.

Krona first appeared in Green Lantern vol. 2 #40, October 1965. He was a scientist on Maltusa, the planet the Guardians of the Universe were originally from. In fact, he's the reason they became the Guardians in the first place. Krona, in his hubris, decided to build a time television to view the creation of the universe. This proved disastrous, as he saw the Hand of God (Later retconned to be the hand of the Spectre). This somehow caused the Multiverse to be created. This also created the Anti-Matter Universe where Qward is, as well as the Anti-Monitor and the monitor. I'm going to be honest, this makes no sense to me. The Guardians chose not to execute Krona, but instead to transform him into pure energy and cast his consciousness across the universe.

He returned on a number of ocassions, including the introduction of Nekron, Lord of the Unliving. He was even the big bad in JLA/Avengers, from 2004. Despite his vairous appearances over the years, Krona's greatest contribution remained the story about the view screen.

However, across several years in Geoff Johns' Green Lantern run, more was added to Krona's history that is relevant to DCUO in ways that his other appearances. It was first established that he had acted as Jailer for the Emotional Entities, with Parallax kept in a box in his lab and the only map to Ophidian, the Orange Entity, in his possession. Krona became convinced that emotion was key to controlling emotion, as opposed to his other Malthusians, who were becoming increasingly stoic. It was during this time that he harnessed the emerald energy of Will for the first time, creating a power gauntlet and back mounted power battery to use it with. It was these that were the basis for the Green Lantern Rings the Guardians would eventually create. Following his exile, the Guardians kept the Gauntlet and battery under lock and key in what they called the Foundry. It was guarded by a special Green Lantern named Shedd. The Gauntlet first appeared in Green Lantern vol. 5 #63, March 2011, and saw extensive use during the War of the Green Lanterns.

The Guardians didn't take kindly to his behind-their-backs actions. They sent the Manhunters after him, but, as we see in the alert, he reprogrammed them in order to show the flaws of an unfeeling police force. He had them kill most sentient life in Space Sector 666, sparking the feud that would culimate in the existence of the Red Lanterns. Note that he was still a Maltsian during this, not the small Guardians. This is why he looks the way he does in the alert. This is also shown in #63.

In the present day, he returned and began to steal the emotional entities. Wrapped in "Malthusian Evolutionary Bandages" to jump start his evolution into a Guardian, he eventually started a War between Green Lanterns by placing Parallax back into the Central Power Battery and causing Lanterns to go berserk. In the end, Hal actually manages to override his ring's safety settings and kill Krona, leading to his dismissal from the Corps.

It's a good story, check it out.

History Behind DCUO: Bludhaven & Ace Chemicals

Bludhaven
Well, if we're going to cover the Bludhaven alert, I reckon we'd have to start with the place it all takes place in, won't we? Bludhaven- for typing's ease, I will be forgoing the umlaut in this article- first appeared in Nightwing v.2 #1 in October 1996, wherein Nightwing trails the second Blockbuster, Roland Desmond, to Bludhaven during the investigation of the murder of twenty-one Gotham gangsters.

Realistically, Bludhaven was introduced in an attempt to differentiate Nightwing from his mentor Batman. Since Nightwing was introduced, writers have gone back and forth on how to get Dick out of Batman's shadow- or if they even need too.

In story, Bludhaven was shown to be pretty much Gotham Lite, but even more corrupt. Every level of law enforcement was eaten through with corruption, the city was made of failed housing projects filled with addicts and more. It started out as a whaling town in the early 20th century, and was incorporated into a commonwealth in 1912. Owing in no small part to failed attempts at turning it into a shipping and manufacturing center, Bludhaven became a poverty stricken city. Thanks to high poverty rates and being overshadowed in all respects by nearby Gotham City, Bludhaven became a completely corrupt city. From top down crime ruled the city.

Note that several locations in the Alert are taken directly from the comics, such as the Spine, Mealtide Park and others. Y'all can consult the map I posted from Nightwing Secret Files and Origins if you want to see it closer.

When Nightwing chased Blockbuster to Bludhaven, he set up shop in the city, becoming its own protector. Over the next several years, Nightwing lived in Bludhaven and fought against Blockbuster, who essentially set himself as DC's Kingpin. Dick became Bludhaven's only honest cop and lived in an apartment complex also used by Golden Age hero Tarantula and former Batman villain Amygdla. In general, Bludhaven was pretty frickin' important for quite sometime. Probably due tot he concept of "Gotham... but poorer and more crime ridden." It works well enough, I suppose.

Anywho, it goes without saying that it got nuked, since it appearances as a chemical wasteland in DCUO.

That happened in Infinite Crisis #4, January 2006, the Brotherhood of Evil, acting on orders from the Secret Society of Supervillains, dropped chemical bomb Chemo on Bludhaven, killing most people involved. In Infinite Crisis proper, this wasn't used too much. However, one of the Crisis Aftermath miniseries, Battle for Bludhaven (June 2006), dealt hugely with the ruined city. In said mini, it was revealed that people had indeed survived the explosion and were forced to live in the ruins, quarantined by government agencies like the Superhuman Advance Defense Executive (SHADE). The city was also quarantined with a massive wall, creatively called the Wall. Of note, the concept of mutants arising in Bludhaven come directly from this- several humans were mutated into a group that would eventually become the new Freedom Fighters, used by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Grey in two minis and a short ongoing series. However, the mutants weren't nearly as prominent as the mutants in the Alert, due in no small part

Lots of stuff happened in the Battle, including a new group of "Atomic Knights" being loosed, as well Major Force being set loose on the city, as you'll read...now!

Major Force
Major Force is one of those evil versions of good characters, like Sinestro, Bizarro or Professor Zoom. In Force's case, he is the twisted mirror of Captain Nathanial Adam, alias Captain Atom.

Force  first appeared in Captain Atom #13 back in February 1988 and was created Cary Bates, Greg Weisman (of Gargoyles and Young Justice fame) and artist Pat Broderick. Force was the product of the Captain Atom Project that turned court martialed Vietnam soldier Nathanial Adam into Captain Atom. Clifford Zmeck was court martialed on charges of rape and murder and sentenced to life in prison. During the time he was locked up, Nathanial Adam got locked up in an alien ship and nuked to see what would happen, bonding the alien metal known as Dilustel to him and throwing him through the timestream.

So they took the murdering rapist and did the same thing with him. Comics, eh?

Zmeck emerged from the timestream a year after Captain Atom did. The government decided that they wanted a more servile quantum powered metal man and, in a move prescient of both the Suicide Squad and the Ellis Thunderbolts, stuck micro explosives under the Dilustel while it was still molten. Voila, instant government monster. Major Force became at first an ally and then, when his brutality went unchecked, an enemy. Throughout the Bates/Weisman series Zmeck was a hired gun for Captain Atom's corrupt handler, General Wade Eiling.

In Green Lantern vol. 3, #54, August 1994, Major Force commited the act that is not only his main claim to fame, but coined a new term. In said issue, Major Force kills Alexandra DeWitt, girlfriend of new Green Lantern Kyle Raynor. Major Force stuff her body into a refrigerator. Writer Gail Simone coined the term "Women in Refrigerators" after this, to be used when a (usually female) side character is injured/killed/etc. to make cheap drama for the protagonist. So, while Force isn't exactly a major villain, he HAS had a pretty big effect on the face of comics, albeit somewhat secondarily.

Force then sort of fluttered around comics for a while. In the Guy Gardner: Warrior series, (Issue 43, June, 1996), he killed Green Lantern Arisia, who later got better. Then Guy cut his head off. But then it turned out that as energy he can't die. Kyle later did the same when it looked like Force had killed his mother, but then that was retonned, presumably because seriously?

Force is in the Bludhaven alert, however, because of the aforementioned Battle for Bludhaven series. In it, he's the field leader of SHADE, a black-as-a-red-door ops group that specializes in metahuman affairs. Over the course of the mini, he kills Major Victor, an underling in a group called Freedom's Ring, and comes to blows with Hal Jordan. In the end, Force is "killed", inasmuch as an energy being can, by Captain Atom, who had been held under Command D, a special bunker underneath Bludhaven. Atom had been punctured during the Infinite Crisis and was leaking radiation. The Atomic Knights built a containment suit for him, but to their chagrin, Atom became unbalanced and became the much maligned Monarch. Speaking of Monarchs...

Ace Chemicals (Plus Monarch Playing Card Company)
Ace Chemicals is one of those things that doesn't really ever appear. It gets name dropped, sure, in no small part due to whose origin story happens in his fluorescent vats. But actual appearances? Those are much rarer.

Ace Chemicals and its next door neighbor, Monarch Playing Cards, both first appeared in Detective Comics #168, February 1951. This issue, "The Man Behind the Red Hood!", is rather important issue all told. In said issue, Batman discovers the Joker's identity: a crook from "ten years ago" called the Red Hood! See, the Hood had been a common thief in a fancy suit that had decided to rob the cashbox in the Monarch Playing Cards Company, which is right next door to the Ace Chemicals Processing Plant. Batman ends up knocking the Hood (or maybe he just fell) into the chemical vats of Ace Chemicals, causing his skin to be bleached and his hair to turn green. This turned out to be the One Bad Day that the Hood needed to turn him into the maniacal mirthful murderer called the Joker.

The next time the plant was shown in any sort of actual import was in the prestige format oneshot Batman: The Killing Joke, March 1988. Note that this is NOT an official origin, since the Joker in-story awknowledges that he doens't remember his past. "I prefer multiple choices!", he says. Anywho, the Joker was (maybe) a failed comedian who wanted to pull one robbery in order to help him, his wife and unborn child move up in the world, and ended up helping the Red Hood Gang into robbing Monarch Playing Cards, next door to a place he used to work at as an engineer, Ace Chemicals. Unfortunately, newly hired security and Batman show up, and the Joker ends up tumbling into chemicals and becoming the Joker.

That's pretty much it, actually. Last Rites, a story from late 2009, introduced the idea that it was Ajax Chemicals, part of Kane Chemicals, a chemical plant owned by Bruce Wayne's mother's family. It was also the source of the chemicals used by many villains early in Batman's career, explaining the various chemicals encountered back then, such as Dr. Death.

It was also important in the 1989 Batman movie, wherein it was Axis Chemicals. In said appearance, it was a plant owned by Carl Grissom, a gangster "Jack Napier" worked with. It was raided by police and Batman, ending with Napier getting shot in the face. Said wound caused his distinctive rictus. In the later parts of the film it was where the Joker manufactured his Smilex toxin. The use of it as a place where the Joker made his toxin is pretty clearly alluded to in the Alert.

Yup, that's pretty much it.





Chemo
Chemo is, for whatever reason, one of my favorite villains in the DC Universe. Seriously, I can't exactly pin down why I love the not-so jolly gelatinous green giant so much, but I do. Perhaps because he's such a distinctive character: A giant, transculscent green plastic humanoid filled with bubbling liquid. It just looks rad as hell.

Chemo has historically been an antagonist to the Metal Men, and as such, was created by Bob Kanigher and Ross Andru. He first appeared in Showcase 39, July-August 1962, the third of four issues the Metal Men had in Showcase, and their third overall. In the first appearance,  scientist Ramsey Norton, in one of those complete lapses of genres that only occurs in comic books, decides to dispose  of failed chemical experiments in a massive humanoid plastic shell. Why? Because why not. Anywho, the different chemicals somehow bring the shell to life. It, like many artificial creatures before it, kill its creator and goes on a rampage. It's stopped by the Metal Men and becomes possibly the closest thing to an arch nemesis the team had. They really didn't have many other recurring antagonists, especially in the early days.

Chemo returned to menace the team several times, in both the 1963 and 1973 series. It even fought Superman in DC Comics Presents #3, December 1978. The first time Chemo did anything big, however, wasn't until January 1986, in Crisis on Infinite Earths #10. It had appeared in the previous issue, attacking Earth-4's New York Harbor by spewing radioactive waste into the water. Issue 10, however, had the Silver Age Aquagirl, Tula, succumb to poisoning from the toxic beast. The fact that he managed to kill a character, however minor, was quiet impressive for this era. Chemo was destroyed immediatly afterwords when Valentina Vostock, Negative Woman, constricted around him with her N-Woman entity, shattering his plastic.

Although he next appeared in Action Comics #590, July 1987, his next semi-important appearance was in Peter David and Gary Frank's Supergirl #5 from January 1997. In said issue, Chemo menaced Leeburg, home of the Iron Age Supergirl, Linda Danvers. Interestingly, Danvers was able to destroy Chemo by telling the thing it wasn't human, causing it to essentially kill itself. This issue is important for one reason, however: the metal attachments that allow tubes to be attached to Chemo (See the Ace Chemicals alert) originate in this issue. This has been Chemo's design ever since, giving it a nice balance that the solid green original didn't have. This depiction has even made it into actoin figures, with the Collect and Connect in DC Universe Classic's Wave 9.

Chemo appeared here and there over the next few years, including a stint in the Suicide Squad during 2001's Our Worlds at War event. It wasn't until Infinite Crisis #4, December 2005, that Chemo had the appearance that solidified him as an important object in the DCU. In said issue, a Secret Society of Supervillains group (The Brotherhood of Evil from the Doom Patrol, actually) and Deathstroke drop Chemo as a makeshift chemical A-Bomb on Bludhaven, killing the majority of people inside and rendering it a mostly uninhabitable chemical wasteland. This is why Chemo is the boss of the Bludhaven alert, obviously.

Chemo has been used a few times since, including an appearance in Duncan Roulou, of Ben10 fame,'s great Metal Men mini. But for the most part, he's mostly remembered by DCUO, DC proper and the fanbase for his role in Infinite Crisis, a role which quite literally changed the face of the DC Universe.





Chemoids
J'onn rightfully says that Chemo isn't known for reproducing, but there have indeed been smaller Chemos. They were aptly, and somewhat adorably, called Baby Chemos. The Babies first, and only, appearance was in Superman #663, by Kurt Busiek and Carlos Pacheo. The gist of the issue involved Lightray, of the New Gods, bringing the so-called "Young Gods" to Metropolis. Whilst in the city, they helped Superman fight against the Baby Chemos. By the end of the issue, they were revealed to be a product of a Lexcorp project involving chemical samples of Chemo left over from the Bludhaven ruins.

For the most part, the Chemo Babies are scenery for the issue, a footnote in a larger story. But for whatever reason, they seem to clearly be the inspiration for the Chemoids in the Bludhaven and Ace Chemicals alerts.

History Behind DCUO: Gorillas A-Go-Go!

Gorillas!
I know what you're thinking. "Really? Gorillas? What, is there a history of gorillas in DC?" To which I'd say, "Of course!"

DC's history with gorillas goes back decades. Look back at DC's Silver Age output, and you'll notice a strange, recurring thing... Taro, the Gorilla Witch in Strange Adventures #186. The Mod Gorilla Boss in Strange Adventures #201, who fought Animal Man in one of his five appearances. The Living Bomb Beast and the Gorilla Mob Boss of Gotham City, who came to blows with the Caped Crusader in Detective Comics #339 and Batman #75, respectively, and Mogo the Bat-Ape, who helped the Dynamic Duo in Batman #114, and who is my favorite Silver Age one-shot Bat character.

There were even recurring characters, like Beppo the Super Monkey, Monsieur Mallah and Gorilla Grodd. The mark our primate pals left on comics is undeniable. But the question remains- why?

Surprisingly, we know. Strange Adventures was one of a number of anthology titles DC ran during the Atomic Age and the Silver Age, and ran predominently science-fiction stories. There weren't any recurring characters for quite a few years. Issue 8, May 1951, had a cover feature entitled "Evolution- Plus!" by Gardner Fox. The issue concerned a crook getting an evolution ray and causing hijinks. The contents aren't terribly important to the issue at hand, however. The cover is. Sales apparently spiked on this issue.

Julius Schwartz, a great fellow who was editor of various titles from the mid-1940s when he cut his (comic) teeth on All-Star Comics to the 1980s, when Superman tearfully bid adieu to his editor on the cover to the second half of "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?", kept ledgers carefully tracking sales of sales of comics. So, while I'm not 100% sure about this, I'd say Julie was the fellow who is responsible for the surge of gorillas in comics.

And once that was observed, the flood gates- or, shall we say, gorilla gates- were open. Over the course of the next twenty years, gorillas went from being something that was occasionally in comics, like anything else, to being a massive part. Superman fought at least a half dozen gorillas, and even became a gorilla. Hawkman fought flying gorillas in one very inexplicable comic, even for the Silver Age. And of course, the Flash came to blows with a certain recurring gorilla rogue multiple times throughout the ages.

Even decades later, the legacy of Gorillas marches on. Secret Origins #40, May 1989, was dedicated completely to primates, featuring the Secret Origins of Gorilla City, DC longtimer Congorilla (Ran for thirty years in Action!) and Detective Chimp. In 1999, DC had an entire summer event in the annuals called JLApe, wherein Grodd turns the heroes into gorillas. Even Alan Moore has alluded to the legendary gimmicks of the Silver Age in Promethea, with Crying Gorilla Comix, a nod to Carmine Infantino's claims that the color purple and heroes weeping sold covers.

Of amusing note, the gorilla in the pinstripe suit that you see at in, IIRC, villain clubs is likely an allusion to the aforementioned Mod Gorilla Boss.

Gorilla City
Gorilla City is a long standing feature in the DCU, dating back to Flash #106, April-May 1959. In its first appearance, Gorilla City was largely as it appears today: A brilliant, isolationist city deep in Africa, inhabited solely by hyper-intelligent gorillas.

It's a lovely, distinctly comic book concept, isn't it?

Anyways, as per the aforementioned gorilla centric Secret Origins #40, an alien spaceship crashed into the jungles of Africa. A bunch of curious gorillas then ripped open the spaceship and were briefly enamored with a shiny gem, and then cast it aside. In the original origin for Gorilla City, this was the source of their intelligence, similar to Green Lantern foe Hector Hammond. The alien inside the ship ends up worshipped as a god, and helps educate the gorillas, as well as instructing them to construct a city. When the gorillas are holding the crystal, two beams are released. One is pure and straight and strikes the gorilla that will become king: Solovar. The other, warped, hits the gorilla that will become known as Grodd.

Two explorers, Hughes and Albert Westly, find the city and learn of its origin from the alien that was in the ship, a wizened yet infant-esque creature worshipped by the gorillas. The two are welcomed by the gorillas and the Mentor, who wishes to escape with the two. However, the warped gorilla ends controlling the two as they escape, causing Hughes to kill the Mentor. While Westly is able to escape back to civilization, whereupon he is promptly stuck in a madhouse, Hughes isn't so lucky and are beaten to death. It turns out the whole thing was a gambit by Grodd to ensure isolation for Gorilla City.

The next time the City would see an outsider would be when Barry Allen, the Flash, was welcomed to the city whilst searching for the diabolical Grodd. He became friends with Solovar, helping him against Grodd time and time again, until Barry died in the Crisis on Infinite Earths. In the time following his death, Gorilla City began to open up more. In JLA Annual #3, part of the summer 1999 JLApe event, Solovar was prepared to open up Gorilla City to the United Nations before he was assassinated. More on that later.

Do note that Gorilla City has never been on an island in the comics, nor did the rocketship survive. It was explicitly destroyed by gorillas. There also isn't a volcano. I'm not entirely sure why the changes were made to DCUO, but it does help the game stand on its own, however small.

Gorilla Grodd
Arguably the most famous Gorilla in comics, Gorilla Grodd has been a thorn in the Scarlet Speedster's side since Flash #106, April-May 1959. This makes him one of Barry's oldest rogues, postdating only Captain Cold and the Turtle. In his first appearance, the psychic gorilla quests for the secret of "Force of Mind", or mind control. This story also has the frankly hilaroius Fred Pearson, a friend of Barry Allen's who starred in a popular stage show called "The Great Gorilla". The reason this is so funny is because the show apparently only has a single set, a living room, and stars a gorilla.

Anywho, the Force of Mind ends up being held within Solovar, the king of Gorilla City. Barry ends up having to help the king defeat the warped ape. Grodd ended up being a favorite of John Broome, apparenlty, appearing several other times in the next few years. For intance, he was involved in the positively memetic Flash #115, September 1960- the infamous "The Day the Flash Weighed 1000 Pounds!", wherein he fat-ifies the Flash. He was also a charter member of the Rogues in Flash #155, September 1965, though he is traditionally not on very positive terms with any of the Rogues, let alone a member.

However, the next big appearance for Grodd was in the 1970s title Secret Society of Super-Villains. While he was part of the Society from issue 1 on, it was in issue 8, August 1977 where Grodd actually became leader of the Society, pre-dating another infamous gorilla to lead the Society. This helped solidify Grodd as a "big" villain, along with appearing in the Challange of the Superfriends cartoon, though he lacked his trademark psychic abilities in that. Heck, he wasn't even the right color- he was brown.

Post-Crisis, he was a thorn in the sides of the Teen Titans, when he formed Tartarus, a super-group of villains consisting of mostly also-rans. He came to blows with the then new Flash, Wally West, and was defeated in part by Rex the Wonder Dog. And in his most ambitious, and mimicked in other media, Grodd attempted to turn the entire human species into gorillas in JLApe, an aforementioned event that makes up a big part of his arc in DCUO.

Interestingly, though he has never, to my knowledge, met the Ultra-Humanite, his hatred of "false" gorillas DOES stem from the comics. In Salvation Run #4, April 2008, he murdered Mnsr. Mallah, a gorilla artifiically made intelligent by his eventual boyfriend, a disembodied French brain, calling him a false gorilla that dares compare itself to a son of Gorilla City. Then he beat Mallah to death with the broken case of the Brain. Then the Joker kicked him off a cliff, where he was (wrongly, of course) assumed dead. Amusing aspect to keep for the game.

Gorillabomb
The amusing concept of a "Gorillabomb" that permeates the Grodd chapters is, amusingly enough, from the comics. The Gorillabomb was prominently featured in the JLApe annuals from Summer 1999. The storyline involved King Solovar being assassinated, supposedly by the "Human Supremacy Movement", but in truth by a secret cabal (Is there any other?) of evil gorillas called Simian Scarlet, being manipulated in turn by Grodd. Solovar had planned to open Gorilla City up and join the United Nations, but the perpetually scheming Grodd would have other plans.

Following the assassination, Prince Ulgo (more on him later) takes over the throne and declares war on humans at the UN. There, a Gorillabomb detonates, turning the UN Assembly into gorillas. The Flash (Wally West), Aquaman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Kyle Raynor and the Martian Manhunter are also turned. The rest of the very fun event has the various JLApes coming to blows with the Simian Scarlet, each themed after a different archetype (For instance: Grimm, the mob boss, or Admiral Tralfagor, the pirate captain) before turning their eyes on Grodd.

Of note is the way the Gorillabomb works. Rather than relying on already wonky evolution science, the Gorillabomb goes full on comic science and reconfigures your Morphogenetic Signature. The Morphogentetic Field, AKA the Red, is similar to the Green that binds all plant life in the Swamp Thing comics.

Surprisingly, the Gorillabomb has not been limited to JLApe and DCUO. It appeared as a major plot point in the last sesaon of Justice League Unlimited, wherein Lex Luthor discovered rival for leader of the Secret Society of Supervillains, Gorilla Grodd, had planned to detonate one and turn the planet's population into gorillas. Lex found the idea moronic and took over. It also appeared in Brave and the Bold episode "Terror on Dinosaur Island!", as a thematicly similar E-Ray that in and of itself may be a throwback to Evolution Plus.

Ultra-Humanite
Tip your hat, boys, for the oldest villain in DC Universe Online. Hailing from the long ago Action Comics #13, June 1939, he's just a month older than Batman and barely a year older than his first villain, Superman.

The Ultra-Humanite first appeared, as one could surmise from the above, as a Superman villain. He did not, however, appear as the albino gorilla most are familiar with. His first appearance was really strange, and involved the Ultra-Humanite masterminding a taxicab racket business in preparation for world domination. He had zero motivation. He just wanted to control the world. He even used the phrase world domination. In this story, he is an invalid confined to a wheel chair. In the end of the issue, the Humanite is assumed dead following his escape rocket exploding. He returned to trouble the early Man of Steel a handful of times as his first arch nemesis. Of note, was an appearance in Action Comics #21 that also introduced Terry Curtis who, forty years later, would become an important character in Roy Thomas' All-Star Squadron series. Action Comics #20 introduced the idea that he was capable of transplanting his brain into other bodies, namely that of Hollywood actress Delores Winters. This has became his second most used and remembered of his bodies.

Following the introduction of Luthor, and subsequent balding thereof, Jerry Siegal chose to retire the Humanite rather than have two bald mad scientists fighting against the Humanite. He lurked in limbo for decades afterwords. The Superman Family title in the 1970s had a feature entitled "Mr. and Mrs. Superman", which starred the Earth-2, or Golden Age, Superman and his wife, Lois Lane-Kent. In these backups the Ultra-Humanite was reintroduced.Once again, he used the brain-swapping gimmick. Although his gorilla form still wasn't introduced, he did switch his brain into a giant ant at one point. That earns style points, right?

His big break came in Justice League of America, vol. 1, #s 195-198,October-December 1981. In this arc, the Justice League and Earth-2's Justice Society came to blows against the aforementioned Secret Society of Supervillains and their new leader, who is revealed to the Humanite in an all new body, and the one that would be his most inconic: The albino gorilla with the elongated head. Interestingly, a story a few years earlier in Detective Comics #482, March 1979, starred a villain named Xavier Simon that also transfered his mind into an albino gorilla. Perhaps that was a "prototype" of the Humanite, similar to the Marvel Monsters that were called the Hulk.

The Humanite also meneced the All-Star Squadron and their time-traveling children in the Generation Saga that kicked off Infinity Inc., starting in March 1984. Following the Crisis on Infinite Earths, the Humanite's history was, understandably, tinkered with. He wasn't seen too much until Geoff Johns used him in the JSA arc "Stealing Thunder", in 2002. In that arc, he switched his brain into Johnny Thunder's body and uses the Thunderbolt to take over the world, finally realizing his goal of global domination.

Then he gets shot in the head by the Crimson Avenger.

Of course, that didn't stop him from reappearing. In Geoff Johns and Jeff Katz' Booster Gold, he was a member of the Time Stealers, a pretty cool grouping of time-traveling villains. We actually saw where his original body came from in one appearance, in Justice League of America vol. 2 #7, July 2007. The albino gorilla was Nzame, a rare gorilla born into Gorilla City with healing powers. In a way, this makes Grodd's hatered of the "false" gorilla even funnier, considering that the body he inhabits is a holy gorilla.

There have also been two other Post-Crisis Ultra-Humanites, one in Legends of the DC Universe and the other in Palmiotti and Grey's Power Girl, but they really don't have much bearing here, so we'll let them slide.

Prince Ulgo
Mindblowing to me as well as likely you, the first boss in the Containment Facility alert is, in fact, from comics. Prince Ulgo first appeared in JLA Annual #3, part of the JLApe story. As mentioned before, he was the Prince of Gorilla City, and Solovar's nephew. Following the assassination of Solovar, Ulgo took the throne and declared war on the human species.

Ulgo later takes control of a giant robotic gorilla, Groggamesh, and begins to lay waste to Metropolis in Superman Annual #11. A newly un-Apified Superman reveals to Ulgo that his uncle wasn't assassinated by humans under their own free will, but instead were being manipulated by the Simian Scarlet. Then, as giant robots in comics are apt to do, Groggamesh goes out of control and is put out of commision by Superman. With the newly revealed treachery revealed to him, Ulgo agrees to help Superman and the rest of the JLA. In Martian Manhunter Annual #2, Ulgo fully apologizes for Gorilla City's actions during JLApe, and agrees to make full reparations. He's actually pretty cool in this appearance, humble and ready to carry on the dream of his uncle, that of human and gorilla co-existance.

Yeah, he's not a villain in his only appearances. Strange, huh?

History Behind DCUO: TO Morrow and the Red Tornado

Thomas Oscar Morrow
As mentioned prevoiusly, DC has a proud history of playing sufferers of Malign Hypercognition Disorder completely straight, owing in no small part to their much more stereotypical Silver Age. Thomas Oscar Morrow first appeared in Flash #143, cover date March 1964. Interestingly, for a character that is much more associated with the Justice League of America, he first appeared in a title that he really has no long lasting connection to.

In his first appearance, Morrow had what would become ostensibly his gimmick and main power- a special "television set" that allowed him to look one hundred years into the future as well as pull things through to the past/present using a "fourth dimensional hook". In his first appearance, he menaced Barry Allen as well as his pal Hal Jordan by making duplicates of Hal. This story had the wonderfully Silver Age title of "The Trial of the False Green Lanterns!". Gotta love those old titles. Anywho, at the end of the issue , Morrow falls into some big machine and is presumed dead. But, as James Robinson had Wes Dodds say in Starman, dead isn't dead unless you see the body. And even then, sometimes not.

And indeed, in Justice League of America #64, August 1968, TO Morrow returned. As it turns out, the machine had somehow thrown him onto Earth-2. See, back in the Silver Age, DC introduced the Multiverse. The first alternate Earth introduced, in Flash #123, September 1961, was Earth-2. On this Earth, the Silver Age had never happened, the heroes had been around and fought in WWII, etc.

On Earth-2, Morrow used his tvs to see that if he were to rob the "Museum of the 20th Century", because we totally need a museum less than three quarters through it, he would be stopped by the Justice Society. So, his solution is to make an artificial being and infiltrate the JSA so they can't fight back. Or something of that sort. The whole story is beautifully 60s with a disregard for much logic. Case in point: Hourman builds a computer that tells him where crimes are being committed, apparently because its just that smart. Note that Rex was a chemist, not any sort of engineer.

Anywho, using a device called a "Humaniztron" he creates the Red Torando, who will be discussed at length in the below section, as has became standard.

TO Morrow's next crime was to try and rob Atlantis, which in the world of Earth-Two had been raised by archeoligists. Because, you know. Archeologists totally raise continents all the time. Anywho, the Justice League of Earth-One gets involved and saves the day yadda yadda yadda. This is what Morrow became most famous for, really. Creating the Red Tornado. Sometime in this era, Morrow got split into two people and one of them became Tomorrow, the Future Man, a weird hyper-evolved man whose body wasn't able to keep up and failed. This has been totally ignored.

Following the Crisis on Infinite Earths, TO Morrow first appeared in Flash v2 #19, December 1988. In this story, Morrow attends a party thrown for the Flash Rogues, perhaps the only awknowledgement I've ever seen of his start as a Flash villain. In said story, Morrow's origins are slightly rewritten to have him as a native of Poland whose real name is actually Tomek Ovadya Morah. Note Tomek is actually the Polish form of Thomas. In this era, Morrow was portrayed as a guy who has, by his own admission, "cracked up" because of his glimpses into the future.

JLA #5 is one of the more notable appearances Morrow has had over the years. Alongside Professor Ivo, another prominent mad scientist, Morrow creates another android to infiltrate the Justice League, Tomorrow Woman. Tomorrow Woman ends up betraying them to save the Justice League because they had made her too perfect- as the issues says, she developed a soul. This issue is really funny, and has some great banter between Morrow and Ivo. Really, this is where DC started playing their mad scientists completely straight. Note Ivo was the creator of the Amazo android, which is likely where the Morrow's Magnificent Mechaniks piece about the Amazo Voculizer is in reference too.

There was a forgetteble event called DC 2000 that happeend and had Morrow take technology from the year 2000 back to the '40s that happened, but its not really important. His next big appearance was in 52, wherein he's shown as a prisoner in a mad scientist prison village called Haven. In said series, it is revealed that he was Will Magnus' tutor and a good friend of his. In the course of the story, Morrow is captured and taken to Oolong Island. Whilst there, Morrow develops his now trademark Hawaiian shirt outfit. Hilariously, this carries over to DCUO not just with his design but also with the Hawaiian style you get for complete the Science Squad Experiments collection. Which is a totally awesome touch. During the climactic fight with

Morrow's friendship with Magnus has survived the reboot, as seen in the supplementary text in Justice League #3. In addition, he's shown involved with STAR Labs in the rebooted timeline. Time will tell if he'll come back to menace the justice League again, but the presence of the Red Tornado on the Justice League may hint that he'll be back.

Oh, and that panel at the top? That literally came the panel after the Doctor Death panel from last update. God, I love 52.

Red Tornado
The first Red Tornado was a humor character from DC's Golden Age. She was a working mother whose son, known as Scribbly, was the star of Sheldon Mayer's semi-autobiographic humor feature, Scribbly. As Ma Hunkle, she first appeared in All-American Comics #3, June 1939 and as the Red Torando All-American Comics #20, November 1940. As the Torando she took some red long underwear and a kettle for a helmet and took the fight to the crooks that plauged her area of NYC. She guested in the first ever JSA story in All-Star Comics #3, Winter 1940-1941. It's a pretty darn funny cameo, actually. The JSA stories were great.

Why am I talking about a character that isn't really important at hand? Because the Red Torando in question was designed by TO Morrow to try and fool the JSA into thinking he was Ma Hunkle and infiltrate them. It didn't work, and Reddy ended up joining the Justice League, becoming a fairly prominent member of the Sattelite era.

Now, the origins of the Red Tornado are rather complex. It was eventually revealed that Reddy was, in fact, two entities from the planet Rann, the Tornado Champion and Ulthoon, the Tornado Tyrant. The latter first appeared in Mystery in Space #61, August 1960. The Tyrant was beaten by Rann's champion, Adam Strange. Following this, the Tyrant decided that it pays to be good and went off to an uninhabited planet and made it into a replica of Earth, complete with a Justice League. Said League was actually the Tyrant, now calling itself the Tornado Champion. However, the Champion found it ain't that satisfying being a duplicate, so it traveled to Earth-Two and found the Red Tornado being created and merged with him. In the process it lost its memory, so essentially the Red Tornado was a new entity.

This may have been lost Post-Crisis, where the Red Tornado may have been created as an elemental by the spirit of Earth, Gaea. But maybe not. While Reddy has a bit of a convuluted history, he doesn't approach the horrors of pre-Crisis Black Canary or Post-Crisis Hawkman.

Reddy eventually got himself a wife, Kathy Sutton, and an adopted daughter, Traya Sutton. He's pretty unique as far as comic book androids go- contrast him with his totally not source material, the Vision. He's been technological, magical and in-between. A Leaguer, a Societyman, a Layman (Primal Force was pretty cool!) and a piece of art made by an Australian sold on eBay. Pretty cool character all around.

Other Tornado Androids
Well, the Red Tornado is an android. So it stands to reason that, yeah. There are going to be other androids of his sort. In the Tornado's first appearance, Morrow had other androids similar to the Torando but without tornado abilities. They were just kinda there.

For the most part, the Torando enemies in DCUO draw inspiration from Brad Meltzer's (totally awesome) Justice League of America v2. At the end of issue 2, November 2006, we see a shedload of Tornado robots. In the following issue, we are treated to a whole lot of Tornado robots created by Morrow. Said robots look like palette swaps of Reddy. The green attack with lightning, the blue with wind, the yellow with solar power and the black don't seem to have powers- they just karate chop you. The extra Tornadoes appeared fairly briefly, and were taken down quite easily by Hal Jordan after the Black Canary found their deactivation switch- which was in their heel. Get it? Achiles Heel? Yeah, its pretty insufferable.

While there has never been a Red Tornado style robot in the comics called the Tornado Tyrant, in the televisoin show Brave and the Bold Reddy made himself a son, modeled after his original costume, called the Tornado Champion. Said Champion ended up becoming a villain called the Tornado Tyrant. I doubt this was intentional, but it is worth mentioning, I guess. I loved that show- if you haven't, you should totally check it out.

Starting in 52, there were hints at other Tornado robots. These came to a head in the Red Tornado miniseries that started in November 2009. The miniseries introduced three other robots- the Red Torpedo (II; there was a Golden Age hero named the Red Torpedo. I guess Morrow had pulled the GA hero trick before), the Red Inferno and the Red Volcano. Overall, you can ignore these characters if you want, although Inferno and Torpedo got appearances on the television series Young Justice, albeit modified. That was pretty cool too.