Black Lightning
Black Lightning is a male comic superhero who features in DC Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Origin
Jefferson Pierce was an Africa-American male who was born in the modern age. (Black Lightning v1 #1) He was born the son of Alvin Pierce and his wife Leona Pierce with Jefferson having a sister named Connie Pierce. When they were young, his father made a close friend in Peter Gambi who regularly helped the Pierce family and spent time with them. His father was an investigative journalist who was ultimately killed whilst looking into a story about corruption. After his fathers death, Gambi helped support the Pierce family and raise the children where he taught them how to drive as well as give them their first jobs. (Black Lightning: Year One v1 #1) Gambi later made Jefferson's mother an equal partner in his business with the two working to help support and raise Jefferson by helping fund his education. (Black Lightning v1 #6) He was once a student at a school in Garfield High School. (Black Lightning v1 #1)
Black Lightning foiled a subway mugging, but the robber’s stray bullets hit a passenger and the subway’s controls. Superman appeared and put the train back on track, but then flew off to attend to other pressing business. Black Lightning recognized the girl who was shot as Trina, one of his students. Another one of his students, Hugh Bryan, was cradling her lifeless form, and made it clear that he blamed Black Lightning for her death. That night Black Lightning returned to his civilian identity and decided to check in on Hugh, who was one of his ace students. Pierce was met at Hugh’s apartment by a Neanderthal, who attacked him and escaped. He sought Superman’s help as Black Lightning, and after fighting a pterosaur at Hugh’s apartment Superman pieced together that Hugh was an alien, and that he was de-volving through several of his previous incarnations. The heroes were confronted by Hugh, who was in his original alien form of a sentient magnetic field. Hugh revealed that he’d arrived on Earth eons ago, and was lonely until he met Trina. He promised to make Lightning pay, and attacked the heroes, but Black Lightning generated an electrical field that cancelled out his abilities. Superman offered Hugh a chance to return to the stars, and the alien jumped at it, telling Superman that Earth’s high gravity had kept him a prisoner. Superman flew Hugh into space, and the formerly hostile alien thanked him. (DC Comics Presents v1 #16)
Outsiders
Pierce later joined President Luthor's administration where he served as Secretary of Education. (Superman v2 #166)
Jefferson came to learn that a team mate of his daughter named Grace Choi was nearly killed leading to him arriving at the Outsiders headquarters in order to get Anissa to quit being a superhero. She refused and stated that they had a mission to bring an occultist and demonically empowered villain named Ishmael Gregor to justice. To ensure his daughter did not get hurt, he decided to wear his Black Lightning suit and join the team on their missiona s they fought the demon Sabbac. (Outsiders v3 #9) They were aided by Captain Marvel, Junior who helped defeat Gregor causing Sabbac to flee the battlefield. Black Lightning then attempted to reason with Anissa stating that the life of a superhero resulted in them seeing the worst in humanity and changed them with him not wanting that life for his daughter. Anissa, however, was inspired by his actions in the field and was content to remain as the superhero Thunder along with working alongside the Outsiders. After returning to work, President Ross told Jefferson that he needed to resign due to operating as Black Lightning and that he had inadvertently killed the murderer of his niece Joanna. Due to the Luthor incident, Ross could not afford further scandals to effect the White House leading to Pierce quitting his post in the U.S. government. (Outsiders v3 #10)
Lightning was called in as a Justice League reservist to battle Amazo. Amazo was programmed to acquire the powers of the Justice League, so when Lightning and a number of other heroes temporarily joined the Justice League to battle him it just made Amazo more powerful. Amazo decimated the Justice League reservists, and was only defeated when Superman officially disbanded the Justice League, leaving Amazo powerless. (JLA v1 #27)
Black Lightning and the Outsiders battled an army of demons unleashed on Markovia when Asmodel brought Hell to Earth. (Day of Judgment v1 #4)
Lighting was among the legion of heroes summoned by the Justice League to quell worldwide outbreaks of warfare that were incited by Mageddon. Wonder Woman, Blue Beetle and Steel built the anti-war ray, a device that gave all of humanity the ability to resist Mageddon’s urgings for them to destroy each other, as well as temporary superpowers so that they could all help fight Mageddon, and Black Lightning provided the power source to keep the anti-war ray running. (JLA v1 #41)
He was then confronted by the Bomb Squad who froze Parasite with Black Lightning able to knock out Trident and stop a blow from Doctor Impossible though the latter managed to beat him up. The supervillain would have killed Pierce but instead fled to escape from the arrival of Hawkgirl. Together, Black Lightning and her checked the defeated Trident where they discovered a Starro on him whereupon they called Batman to notify the Justice League of this development. (Justice League of America v2 #3)
Later on, his younger daughter's Metahuman abilities came to manifest where she generated electricity and could bring about a surge over a nearby area when she touched an electrical device. This caused him to seek training for her and he reached out to the Justice Society. (Justice Society of America v3 #12)
Post-Flashpoint
Following the Flashpoint, a new version of reality was created with a different history of events.
A close friend of his was Tommi Colavito who became a police detective and became aware of his superhero identity with her helping him. (Black Lightning: Cold Dead Hand v1 #1)
He was considered a potential recruit into the Justice League after they opened their membership to new heroes. (Justice League v2 #17)
Whilst in Metropolis, he was visited by Batman who wanted to recruit Black Lightning to help lead a new team initiative he had in combating threats in the world that were outside the Justice League. (Detective Comics v1 #983) Pierce accepted and came to Gotham where they helped stop an attack on Cassandra Cain by the villain Karma though Batman was injured. This resulted in Black Lightning learning Batman's true identity which he agreed to keep and the Dark Knight urged Pierce to help train the young vigilantes he had in his care to better prepare them for threats in the future. (Detective Comics v1 #983)
Overview
Personality and attributes
His father was Alvin Pierce and mother was Leona Pierce with him having a sister Connie Pierce. A close friend of his and his family was Peter Gambi who helped raise Jefferson after the death of his father. (Black Lightning: Year One v1 #1) He had a daughter who was named Anissa Pierce who wanted to be a superhero and took the name Thunder. (Outsiders v3 #1) He had another daughter who was the 16-year old Jennifer Pierce who also took on a superhero identity and went by the name of Lightning. (Justice Society of America v1 #12)
Another close friend of his was Tommi Colavito who was entrusted with his secret that he was Black Lightning. (Black Lightning: Cold Dead Hand v1 #1)
Powers and abilities
He said that the Olympics had trained him to act in seconds. (Black Lightning v1 #1)
After his powers were augmented, he was able to use his abilities to sense any disturbances in the earth's electromagnetic energy. (Batman and the Outsiders v3 #14)
Bruce taught him to generate an electrical shield in front of his arms that were designed to repel attacks though he said that it was hard to stop solid objects. Pierce said he was not great in this ability but that he was good enough to get by in a fight. (Justice League of America v2 #3)
The Black Lightning costume he wore was originally created by his close friend and ally Peter Gambi. (Black Lightning v1 #1) Gambi had been provided material by his brother that was composed of kevlar and neoprene that became the fabric of one of his suits. A belt was introduced that acted as a grounding device and was used to initially allow him to control his powers. (Black Lightning: Year One v1 #2) The goggles were powered by his bio-electrical energy with the tech inside the eye piece preventing him from being photographed clearly and even blurred human vision to some extent. (Black Lightning: Cold Dead Hands v1 #4)
Notes
- Black Lightning was created by Tony Isabella and Trevor Von Eeden where he made his first appearance in Black Lightning v1 #1 (April, 1977).
Alternate Versions
In other media
Television
- In Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Black Lightning appeared in the animated television series episode "Enter the Outsiders!" where he was voiced by actor Bumper Robinson.
- In DC Nation Shorts, Black Lightning appeared in the animated shorts segment "Thunder and Lightning" where he was voiced by actor Blair Underwood.
- In Young Justice, Black Lightning appeared in the animated television series starting from the second season where he was voiced by actor Khary Payton.
- In Black Lightning, the character starred in the live-action television series where he was portrayed by actor Cress Williams.
Films
- In Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, Black Lightning appeared briefly in the animated film where he was voiced by actor LeVar Burton.
- In Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, Black Lightning briefly appeared in the animated film where he was voiced by an uncredited actor Cedric Yarbrough. An alternate villainous version of him existing on Earth-3 who was known as Black Power.
Video games
- In DC Universe Online, Black Lightning appeared as an NPC in the MMORPG where he was voiced by actor Alexander Brandon.
- In Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Black Lightning appeared in the video game where he was voiced by actor Bumper Robinson.
- In Injustice 2, Black Lightning appeared as a playable character in the fighting video game where he was an alternate skin for Raiden with him being voiced by actor Ogie Banks.
Appearances
- Black Lightning v1: (1977)
- Batman and the Outsiders v1:
- Black Lightning v2:
- Black Lightning: Year One v1:
- Outsiders v3:
- Justice League of America v2:
- (Justice Society of America v3:
- Black Lightning: Cold Dead Hands v1:
- Detective Comics v1:
- Batman and the Outsiders v3:
- The Other History of the DC Universe v1: (2020)
External Links
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