Lightning Facts

Are you a fan of Black Lightning? Well, you'll be shocked by these One Dozen Black Lightning Facts!

1. Black Lightning was DC Comic's first leading black superhero and he was created by Tony Isabella and Trevor Von Eeden. Tony had previously written "Luke Cage: Hero For Hire" in 1972, so DC Comics commissioned him to create and write a similar, street-based hero in 1977.

2. In terms of his name in the comics, Jefferson Pierce has admitted to fellow African-American hero Mister Terrific he decided to call himself "Black" Lightning because he was the only Black hero around at the time.

3. After the cancellation of his series, Black Lightning became a founding member of Batman's Outsiders. The Outsiders were a covert operations team founded by Batman to take part in missions The Justice League could not. Black Lightning had been on various Outsiders rosters, he has lead certain rosters as well, and his eldest daughter Anissa/Thunder has also been on the team.

4. Anissa Pierce/Thunder does not have electricity manipulation powers like her father, instead she has the ability to manipulate her density to become light enough to fly and heavy enough to create shockwaves. She is also a Lesbian and had romantic relationship with the superstring Outsider named Grace Choi. However, his second daughter Jennifer Pierce shares his electricity powers.

5. Black Lightning is a Metahuman, a term used in the the DCU to identify a superpowered individual. A Metahuman is defined as someone who was either born with superpowers as a result of their parent(s) being a Metahuman, or a scientific experiment turning them into a Metahuman. So while The Flash, Black Canary, and Metamorpho can be labeled as Metahumans, people with powers via heritage or biological reactions like Wonder Woman and Superman are not. Neither is Green Lantern who's powers come from an object or Aquaman who is a human/Atlantean hybrid.

6. During Lex Luthor's presidency, Jefferson Pierce was his Secretary of Education. The superhero community was upset, but Jeff believed he could do more good in the system than outside of it. After Lex came out as a villain again and his Vice President Pete Ross became President, he asked Jeff to resign.

7. Black Lightning was the inspiration behind Static Shock. Both in design and in continuity. When Virgil got his electricity powers he directly took notes from Black Lightning and the two have met before, with some people asking Black Lightning if he's Static's father. 

8. Due to Tony Isabella's rights over the character, Black Lightning could not make his proposed appearance on the 1970's TV series "Superfriends". Instead, the writers of the show created Black Vulcan, a character who shared the same powers and color scheme as Black Lightning.

9. Black Lightning's archenemy is Tobias Whale, an overweight, albino, African America crime lord who leads an organization in Metropolis called The 100. The 100 has also come to blows with Superman and Booster Gold. Tobias weights 400 pounds, and is mostly muscle.

10. Jeff is a Gold Medal-winning Olympic decathlete who went on to become the principal of a high school in Southside (Suicide Slums) on the south end of Metropolis.

11. In "Injustice 2" Black Lightning is a playable character. However, he was created as an alternate skin for Mortal Kombat's Raiden, who was a DLC guest character. This alternate skin came with small attack cosmetic changes and unique voiceover lines.

12. When Tony Isabella first pitched the character to DC Editorial he proposed a character called The Black Bomber, a man who was racist against white people. Don Markstein called it an insult to everybody. In one issue of "Justice League", Vixen battles a villain named Brown Bomber, an idealized version of Tony's original concept.

Thanks for reading.

Who is your favorite lightning-shooting black guy!?