Black Lightning Appreciation 2021

[Frontier]

I prefer him as a normal Meta myself.

[Alpha]

Why? It wastes a potential spot where his mythos can be enlarged. When you create story behind how a person went from being a normal human to someone with powers you automatically add onto the character.

Maybe you didn't like my idea of him having the mentor figure of a neglected black scientist trying to power his community;

Or maybe you don't like his powers coming from long exposure to an experimental power generator that could produce a black lightning that connects with our bio-electricity and enhances and heals the human body;

or perhaps you don't like that Jefferson spent his puberty helping people with this one of a kind machine and that's what would inspire him to become a super hero later on;

But why would you rather have him just get his powers from a random gene instead of creating a rich backstory like the one I propose or one totally different from mine. It adds more meaning to his cause, defines his character further, adds an interesting supporting character, and creates various potential plot lines.

[MoneySpider]

We were having a discussion in another thread that gave me this idea for Black Lightning. I'm not a fan of the metagene so I was trying to come up with a more rich explanation for his powers. Tell me what you think.

What if when Jefferson Pierce was growing up he had a Doc Brown/ Marty Mcfly type relationship with a neglected black scientist in his neighbourhood that wanted to empower his community. That scientist was building an experimental battery in his garage that could power the entire city district for decades to come. A 12 year old Jefferson Pierce works as his assistant and learns from this scientist the idea of black pride. As the project goes on the scientist discovers that this new type of energy he is channelling in his garage can interact with our own bio-electricity. He is a creating a "black lightning" that that can heal and strengthen the human body. When he finally works out the kinks of this incredible battery, he is emprisioned by the government and his creation is stolen.

But Jefferson Pierce, his kid assistant, kept a mini version of the battery for himself. As the years go on Jefferson secretly uses the battery to heal people from the crime and police violence in his district, and to give electritcity to his friends when they can't pay the electric bill. Eventually the battery dies out and stops working. It doesn't matter anymore, because from prolonged exposure to it Jefferson gained that bio electricity within his own body. He is Black Lightning. And you can keep everything else about his origin story as well.

I think your idea could work in an Elseworlds tale, or if they ever give Black Lightning an animated movie or a live action movie. I especially like the part where Jefferson is being mentored by a black scientist.

[Captain Nostalgia]

[Frontier]

Why? It wastes a potential spot where his mythos can be enlarged. When you create story behind how a person went from being a normal human to someone with powers you automatically add onto the character.

Maybe you didn't like my idea of him having the mentor figure of a neglected black scientist trying to power his community;

Or maybe you don't like his powers coming from long exposure to an experimental power generator that could produce a black lightning that connects with our bio-electricity and enhances and heals the human body;

or perhaps you don't like that Jefferson spent his puberty helping people with this one of a kind machine and that's what would inspire him to become a super hero later on;

But why would you rather have him just get his powers from a random gene instead of creating a rich backstory like the one I propose or one totally different from mine. It adds more meaning to his cause, defines his character further, adds an interesting supporting character, and creates various potential plot lines.

Yeah, but he can still be a Metahuman. It's not even gene-specific, like the TV show just made him one of the few kids who managed to survive being unknowingly experimented on in a black community.

[Robanker]

As long as Jefferson remains a former Olympian-turn-educator and uses his powers to clean the streets for his students, I don't much care if his powers are from the metagene or some other source. I'd prefer they're not magic or a science experiment gone wrong, but it's not the biggest concern of mine.

[sifighter]

Oh cool I like how Thunder looks in this image



https://www.gamesradar.com/the-other...ights-thunder/

[abetterday]

My favorite part of the last season of Black Lightning tv show was thunder and lightning and how they used the ionsphere. hopefully DC will go in that direction with the character-exploring things like the Electric Universe theory/concept like the ion sphere. Believe it or not lightning and thunderstorms are essential for farms and crops. When lightning strikes during the summer months it forms nitric oxide in the air which the micoorganisms use in the soil to turn it into bioavailable nitrogen that fertilizes the soil. Jefferson would make a great neighbor for Clark in Smallville. All he has to do is go up in the air and create lightning strikes.

[Frontier]

My favorite part of the last season of Black Lightning tv show was thunder and lightning and how they used the ionsphere. hopefully DC will go in that direction with the character-exploring things like the Electric Universe theory/concept like the ion sphere. Believe it or not lightning and thunderstorms are essential for farms and crops. When lightning strikes during the summer months it forms nitric oxide in the air which the micoorganisms use in the soil to turn it into bioavailable nitrogen that fertilizes the soil. Jefferson would make a great neighbor for Clark in Smallville. All he has to do is go up in the air and create lightning strikes.

Jennifer needs to take a break from the ionosphere.

[SecretWarrior]

In Black Lightning: Year One, we learn that Jeff is effective/resilient against magic in a way that Superman isn't. This isn't ever explained. I always thought it hinted at Jeff's powers being magical in nature, which would explain his ability to conjure black lightning.

Does the Metal series really explain his effectiveness/resilience against magic? Apparently people with a metagene get their powers from Nth metal in the bloodstream, and Nth metal negates/disrupts magic. That could explain Year One, but the larger implication would be that anyone with a metagene would be similarly effective against magic, from Jay Garrick to Duke Thomas. . . Anyway, maybe more of these characters should be on the JLD roster.

[Frontier]

In Black Lightning: Year One, we learn that Jeff is effective/resilient against magic in a way that Superman isn't. This isn't ever explained. I always thought it hinted at Jeff's powers being magical in nature, which would explain his ability to conjure black lightning.

Does the Metal series really explain his effectiveness/resilience against magic? Apparently people with a metagene get their powers from Nth metal in the bloodstream, and Nth metal negates/disrupts magic. That could explain Year One, but the larger implication would be that anyone with a metagene would be similarly effective against magic, from Jay Garrick to Duke Thomas. . . Anyway, maybe more of these characters should be on the JLD roster.

Oh yeah, wasn't Tobias Whale working with some supernatural entity? I seem to remember that.

[SecretWarrior]

Oh yeah, wasn't Tobias Whale working with some supernatural entity? I seem to remember that.

Yeah, i think his name was Viktor Swann.

[atomicskull]

See me? I like worldbuilding. I like a mythos. If there can be a parliament for the Green, the waves, the red, etc. I don't see why there can't be one for Lightning.

[Frontier]

See me? I like worldbuilding. I like a mythos. If there can be a parliament for the Green, the waves, the red, etc. I don't see why there can't be one for Lightning.

Black Lightning versus Zeus? Or Billy Batson?

[king81992]

See me? I like worldbuilding. I like a mythos. If there can be a parliament for the Green, the waves, the red, etc. I don't see why there can't be one for Lightning.

There is a Parliament that covers energy, but it doesn't have a name or champion in the comics.