Electrifying characters and items in Live-Action TV.
- The 4400: In "The New World", Tyler Downing, who disappeared in 1972, has the ability to control electricity with his mind.
- Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Lincoln Campbell is an Inhuman with the ability to manipulate electricity. Aside from generating blasts of electricity to be used offensively, he's also demonstrated the ability to move and levitate objects via the use of static fields.
- In Alphas, this is the Red Flag operative Kosar's power. He can't shoot lightning bolts, but he can create localized brownouts and electrocute things by touching them, or if they're connected by a conductor.
- The Amazing Extraordinary Friends: Wired, the most hot-tempered of the Friends, possesses electrical powers, including the discharge of electricity.
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
- Willow's offensive combat magic of choice is bursts of dark-energy lightning.
- Angel: Gwen Raiden. The main character Angel himself tries to take out Jasmine this way, but it doesn't work.Jasmine: I was forged in the inferno of creation, vampire. Do you really think a little electricity would destroy me?
Angel: Worth a shot.
- The Boys (2019): One of Stormfront's powers is emitting lightning blasts.
- Doctor Who:
- "Horror of Fang Rock": Rutans are intelligent space jellyfish who can generate bioelectricity to fry their foes (usually the Sontarans, their archenemies).
- While not having actual control over lightning itself, ever since "Revelation of the Daleks", Davros has been shown shooting electricity out of his hand and synthetic eye. This ability is presumed to come from cybernetic upgrades.
- New series Cybermen can electrocute enemies at a touch, although they prefer their Arm Cannons.
- "The End of Time": The Master gains this power after his sabotaged resurrection. Made unpleasantly realistic by his need to recharge.
- The Silence also attack their enemies with electricity.
- "Nikola Tesla's Night of Terror":
- The Skithra can kill people with red electricity.
- At the climax, Wardenclyffe Tower
is used to fire a large lightning bolt at the Skithra ship, forcing it to retreat.
- Beatrix from Fate: The Winx Saga is an Air Fairy and has the power to generate lightning. She has proven to be very powerful and to have a very high control of this power, being able to use it not only to move objects or to short-circuit Bloom's phone but also to kill a person by disintegrating the whole body and to break momentarily the illusory barrier that Queen Luna placed on the ruins of Aster Dell.
- Carla Burnelle from Flander's Company has her powers based on electricity. She's quite good with it.
- In The Flash (2014), speedsters generate electricity whenever they use their Super-Speed. With practice, they can learn to fire it. Zoom is fast enough to Catch and Return a thrown bolt of electricity. Mark Mardon (AKA Weather Wizard II) can cause lightning to strike from the sky wherever he wishes. Mardon's estranged daughter Joss Jackam (AKA Weather Witch) can do the same with a meta-tech staff. Farooq Gibran (AKA Blackout) can absorb and emit electricity.
- Gladiators (2024): Played with in the opening credits and Gladiator profile clips, which present Electro as if she has superpowers, with lightning crackling around her hands. Like the other Gladiators, she's a very competent athlete — but does not actually have superpowers.
- H₂O: Just Add Water: Rikki gets the ability to call down a bolt of lightning in the beginning of the second season. Mako Mermaids: An H₂O Adventure would reveal this is non-standard among mermaids, as Mimmi and Ondina, both of whom graduated from normal Mermaid School, can't manipulate electricity, even with their Moon Rings. Even then, Rikki remains unique in that she can summon lightning on a clear day, whereas Sirena needed an existing rain cloud to generate lightning.
- Hercules: The Legendary Journeys: Many, perhaps all, of the Greek gods can throw lightning, not just Zeus. They used it with varying degrees of effectiveness. Ares preferred to brawl and would whip out the thunderbolts only if he was losing a fight; Hades was pragmatic enough to realize that absolutely no one was going to beat Hercules in a fistfight and that the son of Zeus was best attacked from a distance.
- Heroes: Elle Bishop. Sylar, too, after taking it from her (and not even the usual way, originally. He still kills her eventually, though, and destroys the body with her own power).
- Kamen Rider:
- Kamen Rider Stronger was powered by electricity. His Hour of Power Super Mode allowed him to discharge more electricity than usual (and he had to; otherwise, he'd explode).
- Several Heisei Riders use electrical attacks for their Finishing Moves, including Kamen Rider Blade, Kamen Rider Hibiki's Zanki, Todoroki, and most stringed instrument-type Oni, Kamen Rider Kiva (in Dogga Form), Kamen Rider OOO (in any form that uses a Kuwagata Medal, including the Greeed Uva, whom it came from), Kamen Rider Fourze (in Elec States), Kamen Rider Wizard (in Wind and Wind Dragon Styles), and Kamen Rider Ghost (in Edison Damashii).
- Kamen Rider Saber has Kamen Rider Espada, the Swordsman of Lightning, whose main weapon is the Raimeiken Ikazuchi.
- Merlin (2008): Merlin kills Nimueh by hitting her with lightning until she exploded. It has never been brought up again, although quite understandable as he's never needed to use it again. He uses it again in Grand Finale, against the entire Saxon Army. No explosions this time though.
- Misfits of Science: Johnny B. The ability to throw lightning and move at Flash-like speeds somewhat makes up for the fact that a drop of water will burn him like acid. How he doesn't die of dehydration was never addressed.
- Mutant X: Brennan Mulwray can generate electricity by running one hand over the other. The longer he does this, the more powerful the charge. Depending on the charge, a hit can go from a stun and a mild burn to deadly. As expected, it's inadvisable for him to try to use his powers while he's wet, although grounding helps. Later, his powers evolve to him being able to sort-of fly with his hands working like ion engines.
- One MythBusters episode revolved around trying to replicate a water-based electrical stun gun. After several failed attempts, Adam and Jamie ended up weaponizing a Tesla coil by having Jamie sit within one and shoot water out of it, causing the charge to run down the stream onto its target.
- The Power (2023): Girls and women all over the world develop electricity based powers. Gradually they begin learning more uses for this, not only shocking people to harm them using it, but also mind control through manipulating the electricity in the nervous system. Some of them then even learn how to resurrect recently dead living beings through "jumpstarting" their electricity. At first, only young women or girls have the power. Before long though it's discovered older women have it dormant as well, which younger ones can spark in them. Later on Roxy finds she's capable of limited lightning blasts.
- Roswell, New Mexico: This is main character Max Evans' main power; he can channel the energy into things like healing... or destruction.
- Spellbinder: The Spellbinders' power suits can generate powerful blasts of electricity - provided they don't get wet. A significantly upgraded version was also capable of flying by means of repelling the Earth's magnetic field.
- Sanctuary (2007): Tesla can't shoot bolts himself, but invariably causes a lot of damage with lightning. Some of the other characters even call him insane, though justifiably a genius.
- Star Trek:
- This is one of the abilities demonstrated by Gary Mitchell in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "Where No Man Has Gone Before" after he's mutated by the Galactic Barrier to greatly enhance his natural Psychic Powers.
- Seen again, used by Apollo in "Who Mourns for Adonais?"
- The Ornarans and the Brekkians from the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Symbiosis" are capable of generating electricity from their hands, which Tasha theorizes to be an adaptation to the magnetically active sun their planets orbit.
- Super Sentai: Several series have heroes, villains or both who use these, including Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger, where it's a specialty of Kyoryu Gold and his mecha Pteragordon. His arch-rival Dogold has the same power. It's unclear if Dogold had this power before possessing Kyoryu Gold. The same goes for the (otherwise quite different in the plot) Power Rangers Dino Charge version.
- Ultra Series:
- Eleking from Ultraseven, a Psycho Electric Eel kaiju able to fire electrical disks from his mouth and embrace foes (usually with his Prehensile Tail) to deliver powerful shocks. In appearances in other shows, he's additionally given the ability to consume electricity and breathe a powerful beam of lightning as a Finishing Move.
- Eleking wasn't the only Ultra Series kaiju with lightning powers. One of the more notables ones is the rhino-like Neronga of Ultraman, who could consume and manipulate electricity to become invisible (however that works) and shoot lightning bolts from his horn.
- In Ultraman Mebius, the Maquette Kaiju Miclas is upgraded with the powers of Eleking and Neronga, as well as a Neronga expy from Return of Ultraman called Eledortoise, to become Eleki-Miclas, which gives him the ability to shoot lightning from his horns, shock others on contact, and become invisible.
- The Wheel of Time (2021): Amalisa, Nynaeve, Egwene and two other women join to channel the One Power against the Trollocs, creating lightning that strikes them.
- The X-Files: The Monster of the Week in "D.P.O." is a teenager who calls down lightning and controls electricity in general.
