Black Lightning

The Savior of Suicide Slum…

Jefferson Pierce grew up in the Suicide Slum section of Metropolis, one of the roughest neighborhoods in the shiny burg.  His father was killed when Jefferson was young and he threw himself into the one goal that mattered, getting out of the slum.   Jefferson trained his body and eventually competed in the Olympics in the Decathlon in which he won the Gold medal.

Using his athletics to pay for college, he graduated from Kent State University with a degree in Education he came back to Suicide Slum after his mother’s death.  The Slum had not changed, in fact, it had gotten worse.  Jeff decided to stay and change things on his terms.

Peter Gambi, another resident of Suicide Slum and a close family friend to Jefferson and his mother made Jefferson his original Black Lightning suit.  Jefferson put on the outfit and affected an uneducated, street speech pattern combined with the mask with built in afro and Jeff’s secret identity was well protected.   The suit had a belt in it that generated electricity that Jeff could channel. that energy to do battle with the criminal organization that had taken hold of Suicide Slum, The 100.

Jeff had been put through testing to determine if he would be a good candidate to join the Justice League of America, and even though he passed their tests, Jeff turned down the offer, making him the second hero to turn down joining the prestigious group, preferring to focus his attention on Suicide Slum.

Jeff eventually defeated The 100, including their monstrous leader, a large albino man named Tobias Whale and Jeff went on with his career until one case where he accidentally caused the death of a young woman.  Haunted by this event Jeff hung up his Black Lightning costume for good.

Then Batman called Jeff to assist him with rescuing a confidant named Lucius Fox from Markovia, and event which resulted in the formation of The Outsiders.  It is at this time where Jeff breaks through his resulting guilt from the girl’s death and he first manifests internal electrical powers not depending upon his costume.

First Appearance

Created By:  Tony Isabella and Trevor Von Eeden

Powers

Electricity – Jeff can generate bolts of lightning to devastating effect.

Electrical Energy Absorption – Jeff can absorb electrical blasts up to a point, almost like a battery.

Excessive Strength – Jeff can use his electrical powers to augment his strength for short burst of time.

Force Fields – Jeff can use his electrical powers to generate solid electrical fields, but only through great exertion.

Vulnerabilities

Jeff is a normal human with no inherit invulnerability, except with regards to electrical energy, those weapons merely seem to strengthen him.

Skills

Athleticism – Jeff is exceptionally athletic and stays in shape, being an Olympic Decathlete he has far more stamina, speed, and strength than a normal human would have.

Martial Artist – Trained by street fighting and Batman, Jeff is quite the capable hand-to-hand combatant.

Equipment

Black Lightning Suit – Jeff originally wore an outfit that generated his electrical powers and included the mask/afro combination.  He has since ditched this outfit for the more streamlined one up above.