Tornado Twins

Tornado Twins
Don and Dawn: the Tornado Twins. Art by Oscar Jimenez and José Marzan, Jr.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Adventure Comics #373 (October 1968)
Created by	Jim Shooter (art) Mort Weisinger (editor) Win Mortimer (story)
In-story information
Alter ego	Donald "Don" Wallace Allen Dawn Jae Allen
Team affiliations	Legion of Super-Heroes
Abilities	Superspeed

The Tornado Twins are superheroes in the DC Comics Universe. The twins are Don and Dawn Allen, the children of Barry Allen (the second Flash) and Iris West-Allen. They first appeared in Adventure Comics #373 (October 1968).

In their first appearance, the twins are 30th century descendants of Barry Allen. They temporarily gain super-speed powers during "Flash Day", a ceremony honoring their ancestors.

After the events of Crisis on Infinite Earths, the history of the DC Universe is changed. In this new continuity, Barry Allen briefly joins his wife Iris in the 30th century, where the two manage to conceive the twins. Before they are born, however, Allen is killed saving the remaining worlds from the Anti-Monitor. Don and Dawn are raised in an era of extreme xenophobia, where metahuman activity is unwelcome. Growing up hearing the stories of their heroic father from their mother the two twins, who have inherited their father's superspeed powers, operate as superheroes in secret. They disguise themselves by spinning rapidly, so that they resemble two tornadoes. During this era they meet a time-travelling Wally West, who inspires them to fight the 30th century's prejudice against metahumans.

As an adult, Don Allen marries Meloni Thawne; they are the parents of Bart Allen, the speedster hero who is first known as Impulse, before maturing into the Teen Titan Kid Flash, and who later becomes the fourth Flash. Dawn Allen marries Jeven Ognats, and gives birth to Jenni Ognats, who would become the Legionnaire XS.

The Twins' fate has changed with each of the DC Universe's major temporospatial disruptions, although they usually involve death in some way. Post-Crisis on Infinite Earths, they were killed helping the Legion of Super-Heroes fend off a Dominator invasion during the Five Year Gap (a timeline in which Jenni did not exist). Post-Zero Hour, the Dominator invasion occurred about 15 years before the Legion's existence; President Thawne, a corrupt descendant of the supervillain Professor Zoom, arranged for the Twins' murder several months after their children's birth.