<span class="SFPTagline"> From SCIFIPEDIA </span>

Black Lightning
Gender	Male
Publisher	DC Comics
Origin	Suicide Slum, Metropolis
First Appearance	Black Lightning #1 (April, 1977)
Creator(s)	Tony Isabella & Trevor Von Eden
Alter ego	Jefferson Pierce
Aliases
Abilities	Generation of Electro-magnetic energy, force field generation, energy absorbtion, martial arts
Affiliations	The Justice League, The Outsiders.

Black Lightning is a fictional superhero comic book character owned by DC Comics.

Jefferson Pierce was a gold medal Olympic athlete who returned to the dangerous Suicide Slum neighborhood of Metropolis to give back to his community. He started out as a public school teacher, attempting to encourage the positive elements in the neighborhood, and discourage the negative. This brought him to the attention of the 100, the criminal mob running Suicide Slum at that time. To retaliate against them safely, he took on the masked identity of Black Lightning. A friend of his designed a special belt which infused him with electro-magnetic power. This belt was eventually destroyed, but not before Pierce was able to internalize his power so that he no longer needed it.

The issue ran eleven issues before it was cancelled. Jefferson Pierce continued to appear in various comic books, until he became a regular of the Outsiders. Currently, his daughter Anissa in the identity of Thunder has taken his place in the current Outsiders line up.

He appeared from time to time in various guest-starring roles over the years. He was the Secretary of Education during President Luthor’s administration, a job he took attempting to change things from within the system. He was later framed for murder by Deathstroke the terminator, and imprisoned in Iron Heights. The Outsiders broke him out and eventually cleared his name.

Black Lightning became a member of the Justice League of America in 2007, and appears regularly in that book.