What do you think?
The image you're looking at is actor Iddo Goldberg in full makeup and costume as DC Comics superhero Red Tornado. But be honest: Would you have known that Red Tornado is who you're looking at if we hadn't told you?
Goldberg is guest-starring on the first season of Supergirl in not one but two roles. He'll be playing scientist T.O. Morrow, the creator of Red Tornado. According to CBS, Morrow designs and builds Red Tornado as a super weapon for the United States Army. And our brainy scientist also happens to be a villain.
In addition to T.O. Morrow, Goldberg will also appear as the advanced android Red Tornado. How or why that happens is yet to be revealed, but we're guessing Morrow will design the android based on his own visage. (The guy that made Data did the same thing on Star Trek.)
CBS says that after he's activated, Red Tornado "becomes sentient, posing a grave danger to National City," Supergirl's home turf. That makes him sound pretty dangerous, but it'll probably just be a case of A.I. becoming self-aware and needing a little time to get his bearings. After all, Red Tornado is a superhero in the comics, so he'll likely follow suit on the show.
But back to that photo. Just released by CBS, this is Supergirl's live-action take on the superhero. And aside from a barely visible cameo in an episode of Smallville, this marks Red Tornado's first depiction in live-action. Let's compare the TV look to his traditional comic book look.
The TV look keeps the signature "T" symbol on his chest, but ditches the circle around it, along with his cape. It's also missing one thing that makes Red Tornado instantly recognizable: the yellow arrow on his forehead.
We're all for adaptation of comic book costumes into more realistic live-action incarnations, but this look is a lot to swallow. Maybe we're seeing him here at an early stage, and all of those missing elements will be added by the end of the episode.
What do you think? Good comic-to-TV translation? Or 1970s scifi B-movie leftover?
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