Black Lightning (Jefferson Michael "Jeff" Pierce) is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character, created by writer Jenny Blake Isabella with artist Trevor Von Eeden, first appeared in Black Lightning #1 (April 1977), during the Bronze Age of Comic Books.[1] Although his precise origin story has varied over the years, he is generally depicted as a metahuman superhero who uses the ability to generate and control electricity to defend his community – and the world – as Black Lightning. Although not the first black superhero to be featured in DC Comics stories, Black Lightning was DC's first African-American superhero to headline his own series.[2]
In his earliest stories, Black Lightning was depicted as a schoolteacher from the crime-ridden Suicide Slum area of Metropolis who acquires electrical superpowers from a technologically advanced power belt that he put to use to clean up crime in his neighborhood. Over time, Pierce establishes himself as a successful superhero in the DC Universe, and later stories depict him as having "internalized" the belt's powers as a result of his latent metagene. Later retellings of Black Lightning's origins simplified his story by depicting him as a metahuman with the inborn ability to manipulate and generate electricity. The character later went on to father two superhero daughters, Thunder and Lightning, and work closely alongside Batman as a founding member of the Outsiders superhero team.
DC originally commissioned Isabella to create its first black character following on from Isabella's successful work for Marvel Comics with Luke Cage. However, only 11 issues of the series were published before DC ran into financial trouble in 1978 which led them to cut back the majority of their titles. The character went on instead to be featured prominently in books like Justice League of America in DC's new slimmed-down offering of titles, exposing him to more readers, with the character being remembered for providing critical perspective on established superheroes like Batman and Superman. Early elements of the character were controversial, and later removed or toned down. For example, in early stories, he wore an afro wig and spoke in an exaggerated Harlem jive vernacular to disguise his secret identity.
For many years, Black Lightning did not feature in media adaptations of DC Comics stories, with the similar character Black Vulcan being created for DC's Super Friends cartoon in the 1970s to avoid the series making royalty payments to Isabella.[3][4] Nevertheless, Black Lightning was clearly influential on other comic book writers, and "whether directly or indirectly," likely established the recognized trope of black superheroes commonly exhibit electricity-based superpowers,[5] including later original characters such as Static.[3] The character has been adapted into various media, including animated television series, video games, and comic strips. Cress Williams portrays Black Lightning in a self-titled series and the Arrowverse series The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow. Black Lightning had proven a popular character for DC and was ranked 85th overall on IGN's "Top 100 Comic Books Heroes" list in 2011.
