Welcome to another installment of Demanded Characters. Today we will take a look at a popular yet underrated hero in the DCU. Jefferson Pierce has been an Olympic gold medalist, a teacher, and a government official, yet most of you know him as Black Lightning.
Looking at last week’s poll, with 57% of the votes it looks like the fans want to see a modern Booster Gold. Mattel – just don’t forget Skeets.
Jefferson Pierce started out his life in Suicide Slum in Metropolis. He would escape poverty and become a great athlete, eventually winning a gold medal in the Olympic decathlon. After his fame in the world of sports, Pierce would get his teaching degree and return to Suicide Slum. Jefferson thought, like most teachers, he could return to make a difference. After a time reality set in and he watched his students fall prey to crime and drugs. Pierce would don a costume and a belt which would give out an electrical charge to take on the mob in his neighborhood as Black Lightning. Eventually he would be able to stop the mob and help some of his students, but Pierce got some attention in the superhero world and would become a founding member of the Outsiders. Along side Batman this group was founded to take down some of the underbelly of crime rather then the flashy super villains which the Justice league is so often called on to take care of. After time with the group Jefferson found out he has a latent metagene which would eventually manifest itself so that he no longer needed his belt and could control electricity on his own.
After leaving the Outsiders and protecting his new city, Brick City, Pierce would take a job under one of the most ruthless villains in the DCU, Lex Luthor. When Luthor became president he would appoint Pierce as the Secretary of Education. Pierce would use his position to cultivate underworld ties which would aid him as a hero. Most villains saw him and still do as an ally to Luthor. After Luthor’s fall Jefferson would return to being a superhero, joining the new Outsiders for a short time. Currently Black Lightning can be seen as part of the Justice League and as a close, personal ally to Batman on the team.
So which version of Black lightning do you want to see? Should Jefferson be the old school Black Lightning, old school without the afro, his red and blue costume, his Flat top look, the look he sported with his return to the Outsiders, or his modern look, and, well, just for fun would you rather see Black Vulcan?
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