Black Lightning

Black Lightning
Textless cover of Black Lightning: Cold Dead Hands #1 (November 2017) Art by Clayton Henry
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Black Lightning #1 (April 1977)
Created by	Tony Isabella with Trevor Von Eeden
In-story information
Alter ego	Jefferson Micheal "Jeff" Pierce
Species	Metahuman
Team affiliations	Outsiders Justice League
Partnerships	Batman Katana Geo-Force Cassandra Cain Halo Metamorpho The Signal
Abilities	Manipulates electricity to various effects, including shooting lightning bolts, exerting electromagnetism, and deflecting attacks. Highly skilled fighter in martial arts

Black Lightning (Jeff Pierce) is a superhero appearing in American comic book published by DC Comics. The character, created by writer Tony 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 feature 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 is 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 puts 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 simplify his story by depicting him as a metahuman with the inborn ability to manipulate and generate electricity. The character later goes 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. This proved to be a blessing in disguise however, as the character went on instead to feature 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 that he was in fact the highly educated schoolteacher, Jefferson Pierce.

Black Lightning has proven a popular character for DC and was ranked 85th overall on IGN's "Top 100 Comic Books Heroes" list in 2011. The character has been adapted into various media, including animated television series, video games, and comic strips. The character and his stories were adapted for live-action Black Lightning TV series, which ran from 2018 to 2022. The title character was portrayed by Cress Williams, who also went on to make appearances in the related TV shows The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow.