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Thunder & Lightning (PG)

Betsy Stacey
Nov 14, 2017
2 min read

History:

Anissa & Jennifer Pierce whose code-names are Thunder & Lightning respectively. Thay are the daughters of famous hero Jefferson Pierce, codename, Black Lightning. He actually did really want his daughters to follow in his footsteps. However, he allowed them to be heroes and use their powers, but only after making his daughters promise to graduate from college.

Anissa graduated with a pre-med degree, and later on that same day her father walks in on her trying her costume on. Becoming a hero with no parental support was a hard raod to lead and led to a number of near-fatal injuries for Anissa. Jefferson seeing this decides to make sure his younger daughter Jennifer actually has his guidance or guidance in general. He signs her up for the Justice Society of America when she was just a teenager.

Even though they're sisters, their powers could not be more different. Anissa controls her density to the point of making herself invulnerable and creates shockwaves by stomping her feet or clapping her hands. She ran with The Outsiders for years, and eventually ended up in a steady loving relationship with Grace Choi, which Jefferson had some issues accepting at first.

Jennifer on the other hand developed the same powers as her father. Indeed, she has the ability to turn herself into a being of sentient energy that allows herself to fly, and shoot powerful bolts of electricity. The sisters rarely interact with one another, Jennifer was busy dealing with learning how to control her powers and Anissa's initial story-line revolved around her dad's disapproval of her choices and tension on the team with Grace.

To Read: Catch Anissa in the One Year Later arc where the Outsiders are presumed dead. It starts with Outsiders vol. 3 #34 and reveals Anissa's relationship with Grace. Or catch the angry sibling beat-down between the two sisters as one defends their father and the other tries to arrest him which starts in Outsiders vol. 4 #32

To Watch: The 2 DC Nation shorts featuring Thunder as a teenager and Lightning as a pre-teen who are both ready to be heroes already. These are some of the better animations DC has done and I highly recommend you watch them. It also, in my opinion, puts a more positive spin on the relationship between Jefferson and his daughters.