Joshua Clay was born in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, New York, the youngest of five children. His parents struggled to keep their family together in the middle of what was at that time one of the worst slums in the country. At sixteen, Joshua joined a street gang called the Stompers and eventually, as a result, was given a choice between prison and service in the United States military. Joshua chose the army, was trained as a combat medic, and was shipped to Vietnam. 

Less than a month before the end of his tour, Joshua witnessed the attempted massacre of an entire village of Vietnamese non-combatants by his sergeant, Ben Krullen. Horrified, Joshua unconsciously triggered his powers, blasting Krullen, apparently killing him. The stress of this discovery led Clay to go AWOL and flee the country, eventually returning to the U.S. Clay spent the next ten years living as a fugitive. 

Joshua Clay was one of the few D.C. Comics heroes initially identified as a mutant, meaning he was born with superhuman abilities that manifested at some point in his life. In his case, he had the power to generate and project blasts of kinetic energy from his hands, which could knock back or injure his targets. He could also use his control to fly by propelling himself through the air. 

Arani Caulder, the wife of Niles Caulder (the original leader of the Doom Patrol), tracked down Joshua Clay and enlisted him as a member of the new Doom Patrol, along with other misfit heroes such as Celsius, Negative Woman, and Robotman. Joshua adopted the codename Tempest and wore a blue and yellow costume with a lightning bolt motif. He first appeared as Tempest in Showcase #94 (August 1977), created by Paul Kupperberg and Joe Staton. 

Joshua Clay stayed active within this incarnation of the Doom Patrol for a year before it disbanded due to internal dissent. Swearing off super heroics, Clay used his underworld connections to secure a new identity for himself as Jonathan Carmichael, M.D. Due to years of private study and his previous military training, he quickly passed his New York medical board examination. Using funds borrowed from a local loan shark, Carmichael purchased a small Park Avenue medical practice. He lived a quiet, respectable life treating rich hypochondriacs until Robotman tracked Clay down. Due to Steele’s threat to reveal Clay’s true identity to the medical board, he reluctantly returned to superheroes. 

He again retired from active service during the Grant Morrison scripted period to become the team’s physician. He also developed a romantic relationship with Rhea Jones (Lodestone), another team member in a coma due to injuries sustained in battle. 

Joshua Clay was murdered by a temporarily deranged Niles Caulder in Doom Patrol (vol. 2) #55 (May 1992). Caulder shot him in the head with a gun while tending to Rhea Jones. Caulder later claimed that he did it because he wanted to test Robotman’s loyalty and considered Clay, a traitor for leaving the team. 

Joshua Clay’s death was not permanent, however. He was resurrected as a Black Lantern during the Blackest Night event, along with other deceased members of the Doom Patrol. He attacked his former teammates with his energy blasts until he was destroyed by Robotman using an ultraviolet light device. 

Joshua Clay has not appeared much in other media besides comics. He had a cameo appearance in an episode of Teen Titans Go! Titled “The Fourth Wall,” where he was seen among other obscure D.C. characters in an alternate dimension. He also appeared in his first live adaptation of the first season of the Doom Patrol television series for D.C. Universe, played by Alimi Ballard. In this version, he is an agent of the Bureau of Normalcy who infiltrated Caulder’s mansion and befriended Rita Farr (Elasti-Woman). He later betrayed them and revealed his true allegiance but was killed by Mr. Nobody before he could capture them.