The Vortex was created near Cinnabar Flats when the operation of the machine of the Vortex Alien interacted with an atomic explosion in 1947. It emits mysterious energies that often cause unpredictable mutations on the people that enter it. The passage of time within it is sometimes distorted in relation the real world. Its inner space is quite vast, while it is of a restricted size from the outside. It began to be called "Maelstrom" since the 1995 Revelations mini-comic that came with Wizard #45.