Maxine Hunkel (New Earth)

Maxine Hunkel is the granddaughter of the original Red Tornado, Abigail "Ma" Hunkel, an honorary member of the Justice Society and current caretaker of their headquarters. Maxine grew up idolizing her grandmother's allies in the JSA.

As a young girl, Maxine was once kidnapped by T.O. Morrow, the mad scientist who created the second Red Tornado, a powerful android. The specific details of the kidnapping are unknown.

Cheerful, bubbly, and extremely intelligent (4.0 GPA and a 1300 SAT score in high school), Maxine is a 19-year-old student at Harvard University and an avid fan of musical theatre, particularly the play, Wicked. However, her talkative nature and know-it-all personality often alienate her peers and leave the young woman isolated. Her outcast status causes her to suffer from atypical depression.

In recent months, she has begun to manifest unusual superhuman abilities. A sneeze demolished her grandmother's garage and, the next day, she awoke inside a tornado five hundred feet off the ground. The young woman soon realized that she has the power to manipulate wind.

When the Justice Society decides to expand its ranks and provide training to new heroes, Maxine is one of the first recruits on their list. She is invited to join the team by Power Girl and Mr. Terrific and accepts through extreme amounts of excitement (her motormouth response nearly causes them to revoke the offer). Shortly afterwards, she is introduced to the rest of the JSA and her fangirl personality becomes evident in her bubbling reaction to meeting her heroes, particularly fellow teen Stargirl. As a way to ease her pain over seeing Mr. America's death, Stargirl takes her to a room full of colorful fabrics, and (playing on Maxine's college major and interest, the theatre) asks her to select her new outfit.

In her 'rookie phase' with the Justice Society, she helped defeat the Fourth Reich, assisted the Justice League during the Lightning Saga, and fought the Heartbreak Slayer when he attacked Justice Society headquarters. Along the way she visited the Fortress of Solitude and teamed up with the android Red Tornado.

Powers and Abilities

Powers

Aerokinesis: Maxine possesses the power of wind manipulation. She is able to mentally summon cyclones and whirlwinds, project powerful bursts of air, and glide through the air on wind currents.

Flight
Air Blasts
Cyclone Creation
Deflection: Also is able to deflect approaching objects with ease.

Abilities

None known.

Paraphernalia

Equipment: None known.

Notes

Maxine officially debuted as Cyclone in Justice Society of America #3, honoring both the Red Tornado and her former sidekicks, the Cyclone Kids (Maxine's aunt and uncle).

Trivia

Maxine is quite possibly Stargirl's biggest fan, and once talked about her for three hours.

Maxine is an avid fan of the Wizard of Oz and the Broadway musical, Wicked.

Owns a pet monkey named Frankie (after L. Frank Baum, author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz).

Maxine is not the first Golden Age legacy character to use the code name Cyclone. The first was a Nazi agent known as Der Zyklon (German for Cyclone).

Links and References

Cyclone (comics) at Wikipedia.org

Footnotes

Justice Society of America member
This character is or was a primary member of the Justice Society of America in any of its various incarnations. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Justice Society of America members" category.

Maxine Hunkel (New Earth)

From DC Database

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