suicide slums seems beyond saving but no
one told him that welcome to
watchmojo.com and today we will explore
the comic book origins of the
electrifying black lightning
before we begin we publish new videos
every day so be sure to subscribe for
more great content as with most comic
book characters they’re often
reimagining in different versions to a
character’s past we have chosen to
primarily follow the storylines which
unfolded in 1977 and 78 Black Lightning
number three and six through eight which
was expanded upon in the 2009 six issued
limited series Black Lightning year one
Black Lightning is an incredibly
significant character in the history of
comic books as the first
african-american superhero to have his
own DC comic book Jefferson Pierce
started out as a man who wore a
super-powered suit to clean up the crime
ridden suicide slum in Metropolis but as
time went on the suits electricity based
powers became part of Jefferson enabling
him to both generate and control
electrical energy Jefferson Pierce was a
former Olympic decathlete who returned
to teach at his old high school in the
notorious suicide slum of Metropolis the
neighborhood was tightly controlled by a
criminal gang known as the 100 and when
Pierce tossed one of their pushers off
of school grounds the gang tried to
retaliate with the help of a student
named Earl Clifford Pierce sent those
crooks packing too but the 100 couldn’t
stand for that and killed Clifford in
retaliation Pierce was determined to
take down the gang but he knew he needed
to do so anonymously to avoid other
innocence getting hurt
Pierce’s old family friend Peter gambiae
created a special costume that he could
wear to become the hero suicide slum
needed it would protect his identity but
it also had a weapons belt that provided
a kind of force field to repel bullets
as well as an ability to create
electricity to shock his foes taking the
name black lightning Pierce began his
quest to nail the guys that killed
Clifford and take down Tobias whale the
leader of the 100 in the slum over the
next few issues several details were
added to black lightning story Pierce
discovered that the more he used his
suits powers the stronger he and they
became this was apparently part of the
plan that Peter gambi had designed but
that plan was only referred to and never
fully explained more was learned about
Peter gamba though
Pearce was four when his father a grocer
was killed by a stray bullet from a hit
man Peter moved into the neighborhood
soon after and helped Pierce on the
straight and narrow as he was growing up
little did Pierce or his mother know
that Peters devotion to them came from
guilt he had been the hit man who killed
Pierce’s father black lightning was
understandably angry to learn that the
man he considered a second father to him
had been responsible for his real
father’s death but Peter showed just how
much he loved Pierce by eventually
taking a bullet intended for the hero
and man action apparently triggered
something in Pierce which enabled the
transfer of power from his suit to the
man himself to become complete Peter
left Pierce a letter explaining his past
in detail but Pierce had already
forgiven him and tore up the letter
without reading it a 2009 miniseries
made some significant changes to black
lightnings backstory Pierce again was
returning to suicide slum but this time
with a wife and daughter there he would
live with his mother and his sister and
her children and it turned out that in
this version his father was a reporter
who had been killed by the 100 because
he was about to expose a plot by Tobias
whale and a man named Swann
it was also hinted at that Pierce was a
metahuman someone with a special gene
which gave him superhuman abilities in
this case control over electricity he
took to hunting down members of the 100
wearing a modified tracksuit disguise he
eventually did come clean about his
activities to his family but they’d
already figured it out and presented him
with a specially designed costume for
him to wear another major change was the
fact that the 100 wasn’t really a
criminal organization it was instead of
vampiric life force that latched on to a
human body and fed off of the misery of
others its most recent host was Swann
but it had existed for centuries and
surprise surprise it wanted black
lightning as its new host fortunately in
this instance at least it didn’t get
what it wanted gotcha Covered bats
it took some time but black lightning
eventually made it into other media
including as a member of the animated DC
shows his profile has risen considerably
thanks to his new arrowverse show on the
CW central core nice check out these
other great clips from watch mojo and
subscribe for new videos every day
[Music]
one told him that welcome to
watchmojo.com and today we will explore
the comic book origins of the
electrifying black lightning
before we begin we publish new videos
every day so be sure to subscribe for
more great content as with most comic
book characters they’re often
reimagining in different versions to a
character’s past we have chosen to
primarily follow the storylines which
unfolded in 1977 and 78 Black Lightning
number three and six through eight which
was expanded upon in the 2009 six issued
limited series Black Lightning year one
Black Lightning is an incredibly
significant character in the history of
comic books as the first
african-american superhero to have his
own DC comic book Jefferson Pierce
started out as a man who wore a
super-powered suit to clean up the crime
ridden suicide slum in Metropolis but as
time went on the suits electricity based
powers became part of Jefferson enabling
him to both generate and control
electrical energy Jefferson Pierce was a
former Olympic decathlete who returned
to teach at his old high school in the
notorious suicide slum of Metropolis the
neighborhood was tightly controlled by a
criminal gang known as the 100 and when
Pierce tossed one of their pushers off
of school grounds the gang tried to
retaliate with the help of a student
named Earl Clifford Pierce sent those
crooks packing too but the 100 couldn’t
stand for that and killed Clifford in
retaliation Pierce was determined to
take down the gang but he knew he needed
to do so anonymously to avoid other
innocence getting hurt
Pierce’s old family friend Peter gambiae
created a special costume that he could
wear to become the hero suicide slum
needed it would protect his identity but
it also had a weapons belt that provided
a kind of force field to repel bullets
as well as an ability to create
electricity to shock his foes taking the
name black lightning Pierce began his
quest to nail the guys that killed
Clifford and take down Tobias whale the
leader of the 100 in the slum over the
next few issues several details were
added to black lightning story Pierce
discovered that the more he used his
suits powers the stronger he and they
became this was apparently part of the
plan that Peter gambi had designed but
that plan was only referred to and never
fully explained more was learned about
Peter gamba though
Pearce was four when his father a grocer
was killed by a stray bullet from a hit
man Peter moved into the neighborhood
soon after and helped Pierce on the
straight and narrow as he was growing up
little did Pierce or his mother know
that Peters devotion to them came from
guilt he had been the hit man who killed
Pierce’s father black lightning was
understandably angry to learn that the
man he considered a second father to him
had been responsible for his real
father’s death but Peter showed just how
much he loved Pierce by eventually
taking a bullet intended for the hero
and man action apparently triggered
something in Pierce which enabled the
transfer of power from his suit to the
man himself to become complete Peter
left Pierce a letter explaining his past
in detail but Pierce had already
forgiven him and tore up the letter
without reading it a 2009 miniseries
made some significant changes to black
lightnings backstory Pierce again was
returning to suicide slum but this time
with a wife and daughter there he would
live with his mother and his sister and
her children and it turned out that in
this version his father was a reporter
who had been killed by the 100 because
he was about to expose a plot by Tobias
whale and a man named Swann
it was also hinted at that Pierce was a
metahuman someone with a special gene
which gave him superhuman abilities in
this case control over electricity he
took to hunting down members of the 100
wearing a modified tracksuit disguise he
eventually did come clean about his
activities to his family but they’d
already figured it out and presented him
with a specially designed costume for
him to wear another major change was the
fact that the 100 wasn’t really a
criminal organization it was instead of
vampiric life force that latched on to a
human body and fed off of the misery of
others its most recent host was Swann
but it had existed for centuries and
surprise surprise it wanted black
lightning as its new host fortunately in
this instance at least it didn’t get
what it wanted gotcha Covered bats
it took some time but black lightning
eventually made it into other media
including as a member of the animated DC
shows his profile has risen considerably
thanks to his new arrowverse show on the
CW central core nice check out these
other great clips from watch mojo and
subscribe for new videos every day
[Music]
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