Helmut Streicher, a general in the German army during World War II, developed an armoured warsuit in order to prevent a vision of the Third Reich’s defeat that he had witnessed through a time scanner coming true. Battling the JSA under the name Red Panzer, Streicher found his most vexing opponent to be Hippolyta, who served as Wonder Woman during WW2.
Striecher died after Adolf Hitler’s defeat, but the Red Panzer cast such a long shadow that no less than three successors have since worn his armor. Red Panzer 2 was a neo-nazi who perished in battle with the current Wonder Woman and Troia.
The third Red Panzer got his start while still a teenager after his father murdered his mother for perceived imperfections in her genetic history. He was the son of the second Red Panzer. Raised in foster homes with his father behind bars, the young man assumed a new identity as Red Panzer III, though he constantly battled with self-loathing, knowing that his blood was not 100% Aryan. Red Panzer III joined Vandal Savage’s villainous team Tartarus, but he died at the hands of the leader of the H.I.V.E. syndicate.
Vandal Savage hired a new Tartarus member to wear the crimson armour and Red Panzer IV is still active today on the island of Zandia.