T. O. Morrow

Latest revision as of 11:45, 21 October 2023

T. O. Morrow is a male comic supervillain who features in Marvel Comics.

Biography

Pre-Crisis

T. O. Morrow

Since college, he looked to build a time machine which he intended to use to travel to the future. Despite years of work, he was unable to create a working time machine though the device was able to look into the future. (The Flash v1 #143)

The 'original' Morrow was transported to an alien planet which, eventually, Morrow discovered he could control mentally with help from a Power Sceptre he found there. He managed to lure three heroes to his world but was ultimately defeated and returned to Earth and imprisonment. (Super-Team Family v1 #11) The mutated Morrow, which called himself Future Man where he discovered his mutation to be killing him and attempted to save his life by switching minds with Red Tornado, which failed and resulted in Future Man's death. (World's Finest v1 #268)

When the original Morrow heard of the existence and death of Future Man, he escaped prison, returned to his super-computer and examined it until he had learned the truth of what had occurred. He then attempted to build two additional Red Tornado's and unleashed them onto the JLA with poor results. His analysis led him to believe that his original design for Red Tornado was flawed. However, if that is true, then he questioned the reason for the success of the Red Tornado. He then deduced that some 'outside force' had interfered and he summoned Red Tornado to him for dissection and analysis. (Justice League of America v1 #192) Morrow's tampering temporarily released both the Tornado Tyrant and Tornado Champion, the latter of which forced himself, and the Tyrant, to rejoin and reenter Red Tornado's body. Morrow was knocked unconscious early on and never learned the true nature of Red Tornado's sentience. (Justice League of America v1 #193)

Post-Crisis

Following the Crisis of the Infinite Earths, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events. Tomek Ovadya Morah was a male human born in the modern age to a family from Nasielsk that was located outside Warsaw. (Wonder Woman v3 #34) He was the son of Tamara Morrow and Francis Xavier Morrow who named their child Thomas Oscar Morrow after visiting the World Fair with them being dazzled by the view of the year 2000. They groomed their child with a love of science fiction with this instilling in Thomas a desire to become a scientist though his father died in a jet pack accident leaving his mother to raise him all alone. By 1941, he was a child who wanted to become a hero through the use of science. (DC 2000 v1 #1)

When the Euro came online, Morrow began to set up an operation overseas and looked to developing weapons to aid him. This saw him embark on an ambition project of creating robots that embodied each of the different elemental forces of water, air, fire and earth. (Red Tornado v2 #1) At an automotive plant in Czechoslovakia, he built the Red Torpedo to be his enforcer and through which he could earn a lot of money by making her target locations in the European Union. Though sentient, the Red Torpedo did her creators wishes as he was using the money to support them but in time his ambitions grew and he made the android begin stealing weapons as well. Morrow intended to capitalise on the fall of the Soviet Union to pull off these heists but did not realise that his creation was turning against him. The Red Torpedo ultimately rebelled against him and fled but he eventually captured her again where he paralysed her. He revealed that he intended to discontinue her but continue his experiments by creating another android successor to her. After being put off-line, Morrow then hid her in an abandoned submarine where he kept her body within a torpedo tube in the hope that no one would find her again. (Red Tornado v2 #2)

Morrow was called by the Rogues who requested his aid in giving them an advantage against the Flash after he had badly wounded Captain Boomerang. The scientist revealed he had stolen a device called the Humanifold from the future and required a test subject to give them the power to defeat the speedster. Anthony Gambi volunteered and was bonded to the machine that replicated the technology of the Rogues giving him a composite power of all their weapons as he took the name Replicant. (Flash Secret Files and Origins v1 #2)

After forming an alliance with Professor Ivo, the pair decided on creating the perfect android that would aid them in destroying the Justice League. Ivo crafted the body whilst Morrow developed the mind where they created Tomorrow Woman who was so life-like that not even superheroes could tell that she was an artificial being. She was programmed to gain the trust of the Justice League so that she would join their ranks and then detonate an electromagnetic bomb that would destroy the brains of anyone around her. However, Tomorrow Woman outgrew her programming and intended to become a hero where she turned against her creators and sacrificed herself rather than complete her objective. (JLA v1 #5) Morrow got sick of Ivo bragging that he had en upgraded Amazo android hidden in the Everglades ready to come online and break him out of Belle Reve, so Morrow tipped off the JLA. His criminal integrity made him wince at helping heroes so he told them they had an hour before Amazo became active, when in fact they had much less time. Amazo went online and attacked the JLA, and Morrow called Oracle to gloat. (JLA v1 #27)

At some point, Morrow was responsible for kidnapping the granddaughter of Ma Hunkel though Maxine Hunkel was later rescued. Unknown to anyone at the time, she was given superpowers as a result of the incident where she could control wind. (Justice Society of America v3 #1)

Barbara Minerva chose T. O. Morrow to head the Secret Society of Super-Villains Science Division where he was tasked with creating a Justice League killer with this being Morrow's idea. This led to the creation of Genocide but the creation so horrified him that he begged for it to be destroyed. However, Minerva refused and instead had the living weapon being deployed on the field for use against Wonder Woman. (Wonder Woman v3 #26)

He was once again imprisoned for attempting to start a war between two parallel worlds with him detained at the Haven facility. Morrow was not allowed access to a computer due to fears he could trigger a Machine War I. Whilst there, he kept aware of news developments where he noted a pattern in the disappearance of various mad scientists from the world. (52 v1 #2)

During the Justice Society's attack on Oolong Island, Morrow was given a teleporter to one of Doctor Sivana's robots allowing him to escape by Magnus. (52 v1 #49) Following his escape, Morrow took shelter in the Rocky Mountains and finally discovered from Red Tornado about the restored Multiverse. Shortly he was confronted and recruited by Booster Gold and Rip Hunter into briefly helping them against Mister Mind. (52 v1 #51)

Morrow later willingly volunteer information to Nemesis and Wonder Woman regarding Genocide still being alive as he could not be part of anything as vile as the artificial golem. He said that he cooperated for two reasons as one was because Diana was always kind to him and the second was he wanted her to destroy the aberration that was Genocide. (Wonder Woman v3 #34)

Post-Flashpoint

Following the Flashpoint, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events. He was a scientist who studied at Harvard University where he developed an interest in Emerging Technologies. At some point, he worked alongside Dr. Will Magnus on time travel research but stopped after a lab accident involving FTL technology which caused his colleague to resign. After his recovery, Morrow was recruited by Silas Stone to join S.T.A.R. Labs Red Room located in Detroit where he came to be the Project Manager by 31 years of age. (Justice League v2 #4)

Dr. Thomas Morrow was seen at S.T.A.R. Labs' Detroit branch following the Crime Syndicate's invasion. Dr. Silas Stone and Dr. Thomas Morrow have been working hard since the power went out. They know that the Red Room and they needed to protect it from the Crime Syndicate who they were sure are going to strike. They have built an energy weapon. When explosions strike the door, Dr. Thomas Morrow and Dr. Silas Stone are prepared to fire only for them to see Batman, Catwoman, and a critically injured Cyborg. When the scientists asked where the rest of the Justice League was Batman merely stated that "they didn't make it". (Forever Evil v1 #2)

Overview

Personality and attributes

Similar to his namesake, Thomas was always interested in the future and even hoped to go there at some point. (The Flash v1 #143)

He was regarded by Will Magnus as the world's foremost authority on artificial intelligence though no one wanted to acknowledge him for his talent. (52 v1 #2)

Morrow valued the visits from his former student Will Magnus and was appreciative of their regular talks. (52 v1 #2)

Powers and abilities

He stated that his genius manifested in the creation of machines that were so fully conscious that they defied their creator. Thomas did not consider himself a common inventor or maker of machines but rather an artist. Professor Morrow's work laid the groundwork for cybernetic intelligence systems. (52 v1 #2)

He had developed a number of creations that included:

• Red Tornado :
• Red Torpedo :
• Red Inferno :
• Red Volcano :
• Tomorrow Woman : a female life-like android who was created jointly with Professor Ivo. Morrow was responsible developing the brain and her programming. (JLA v1 #5)
• Genocide: a female artificial golem created to be a hero-killer where a combination of science and magic was used to form the monstrous creature. Genocide's body was a corpse filled with unknown magic and then combined with the dead matter of people from various genocide sites from around the planet. Her creature horrified Morrow who wanted to destroy Genocide and sided with Wonder Woman to eliminate his creation. (Wonder Woman v3 #30)

He tended not to program Asimov's Laws into his robotic creations which meant that they tended to hold no compunction against hurting humans. (Red Tornado v2 #3)

Morrow had developed a machine able to steal objects from the future where he was able to replicate them for the present. This involved a use of a fourth-dimensional grapple beam that could reach through and grab objects to pull them into the present. (The Flash v1 #143)

Notes

• T. O. Morrow was created by John Broome and Carmine Infantino where he made his first appearance in Flash v1 #143 (March, 1964).

Alternate Versions

• In Flashpoint: The World of Flashpoint v1 #2 (2011), an alternate version of Dr. Morrow appeared in the altered timeline of the Flashpoint. Doctor Morrow created the Red Tornadoes to defend the Republic of Japan from the Amazon/Atlantean war. After his death, the Red Tornadoes are actively operating and unaware of his death. Traci Thirteen gets the Hermit tarot card and teleports to Tokyo, where she meets one of the Red Tornadoes. She tells him she is looking for a hermit and he lists the definitions. He says he will help her when he is finished, but he needs Dr. Morrow for this, whom he believes is asleep. Traci says he will not be waking up, which the Red Tornado does not understand with Traci teleporting away.

In other media

Television

• In Young Justice, Thomas O. Morrow appeared in the animated series where he was first shown in "Welcome to Happy Harbor" and was voiced by actor Jeff Bennett. This version is an elderly scientist assisted by Bromwell Stikk and a member of the Light who previously built Red Inferno, Red Torpedo, and Red Tornado in failed attempts to infiltrate and destroy the Justice Society of America and Justice League in his younger years, with Red Tornado going on to join the latter. In the present, Morrow employs an android double of his younger self in several failed attempts to capture and reprogram Red Tornado and destroy the League.
• In Supergirl, the character was as an antagonist in the live-action series where he appeared in the episode "Red Faced" and was portrayed by actor Iddo Goldberg.

Films

• In Justice League: War, T. O. Morrow appeared in the setting of the animated film where he was voiced by actor Ioan Gruffudd.

Video games

• In DC Universe Online, T. O. Morrow appeared in the setting of the MMORPG video game where he was voiced by actor Jens Anderson.

Appearances

• Flash v1: (1964)
• Flash Secret Files and Origins v1:
• 52 v1:
• Wonder Woman v3:
• Red Tornado v2:
• Justice League v2:

External Links

• DC Database Entry
• Comicvine Entry
• Wikipedia Entry

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