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M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#301: Oct 18th 2023 at 2:12:32 AM

They have made fun of it. Some stories have outright lampshaded it while using it.

Disgusted, but not surprised
windleopard from Nigeria Since: Nov, 2014 Relationship Status: Non-Canon
#302: Oct 18th 2023 at 4:28:54 AM

Ebon is in the current Static comics.

[up]A Justice League issue even had Black Lightning complaining that people asked him if Static was his son.

Just looking at the DCAU, we have four Electric Black Guys. Static, Soul Power, Sparky (who doesn't actually have powers) and Juice.

Edited by windleopard on Oct 19th 2023 at 12:42:04 PM

alekos23 Since: Mar, 2013
#303: Oct 18th 2023 at 5:16:40 AM

Hell, Cyborg can sorta kinda count too. tongue

dcutter2 Since: Sep, 2013
#304: Oct 18th 2023 at 5:24:28 AM

Does he sort of have electric powers? Or is he sort of in the DCAU?

alekos23 Since: Mar, 2013
#305: Oct 18th 2023 at 5:27:59 AM

Teen Titans isn't really in the DCAU, and his blasts aren't really electric, so I guess it's yes to both? [lol]

RedHunter543 Crimson Paladin Since: Jul, 2016 Relationship Status: Barbecuing
Crimson Paladin
#306: Oct 18th 2023 at 5:29:39 AM

How many white people have electric powers in the DCAU?

Off the top of my head, there's Livewire.

"The Black Rage makes us strong, because we must resist its temptations every day of our lives or be forever damned!"
dcutter2 Since: Sep, 2013
#307: Oct 18th 2023 at 5:33:21 AM

Weather Wizard? Not quite the same thing: lightning as a subset of weather but the tropes page counts Storm and Miles Morales as electric black people so there's some leeway there.

Sunchet Since: Oct, 2010
#308: Oct 18th 2023 at 5:34:00 AM

At this point, I'm surprised Ben 10 isn't black (he has at least 7 different electric-themed transformations)

RedHunter543 Crimson Paladin Since: Jul, 2016 Relationship Status: Barbecuing
Crimson Paladin
#309: Oct 18th 2023 at 5:48:24 AM

I mean, not every electric themed super powered being is black.

Electro and Palpatine aren't.

Granted, they made Electro black in the movies.

"The Black Rage makes us strong, because we must resist its temptations every day of our lives or be forever damned!"
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#310: Oct 18th 2023 at 6:09:06 AM

[up][up][up]Weather Wizard is also a villain. The Electric Black Guy trope is more about black super heroes.

White people with electric powers tend to be Psycho Electro.

Legion of Superheroes Lightning Lad is a hero, but he is noted to have a temper.

A Justice League issue even had Black Lightning complaining that people asked him if Static was his son.

Ironically, Black Lightning's actual daughter Anissa has density manipulation powers instead. His other daughter Jessica otoh does have lightning powers.

Edited by M84 on Oct 18th 2023 at 9:13:30 PM

Disgusted, but not surprised
RedHunter543 Crimson Paladin Since: Jul, 2016 Relationship Status: Barbecuing
Crimson Paladin
#311: Oct 18th 2023 at 6:14:20 AM

General reminder that the laconic of that trope is:

A Black person with electric powers.

There's nothing about alignment.

Edited by RedHunter543 on Oct 18th 2023 at 9:16:03 PM

"The Black Rage makes us strong, because we must resist its temptations every day of our lives or be forever damned!"
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#312: Oct 18th 2023 at 6:18:13 AM

Static, Soul Power, Sparky (who doesn't actually have powers) and Juice.

Soul Power was actually supposed to be Black Lightning, but legal issues forced them to use an expy instead. Juice meanwhile was an expy of Black Vulcan from the Superfriends (who was also an expy of Black Lightning).

That's one of the main reasons this is a trope at all. Black Lightning ended up with quite a few expies to avoid legal hassle. Other examples are Follow the Leader.

It's due to these legal issues that the original Black Lightning himself is not in the DCAU. Besides Soul Power and Juice, the closest we get to Black Lightning is Static's own Future Badass self.

Edit:

Black Lightning is in Young Justice however. So is Static.

Edit 2:

Hell, Cyborg can sorta kinda count too.

Cyborg doesn't count. Teen Titans did have Bumblebee. She didn't have natural electric powers, but she did have weaponry that fired electric blasts.

Edited by M84 on Oct 18th 2023 at 9:34:33 PM

Disgusted, but not surprised
Sunchet Since: Oct, 2010
#313: Oct 18th 2023 at 7:00:54 AM

I just made that joke because fans question why there are so many electric aliens. It's not like there are 5 different ice guys or 6 fire guys in Ben 10.

miraculous Goku Black (Apprentice)
Goku Black
#314: Oct 18th 2023 at 7:09:41 AM

It's cool to think black lighting is so inspirational that he created an entire archetype that even appears in works from anime and manga in Japan (helped by static of course).

"That's right mortal. By channeling my divine rage into power, I have forged a new instrument in which to destroy you."
RedHunter543 Crimson Paladin Since: Jul, 2016 Relationship Status: Barbecuing
Crimson Paladin
#315: Oct 18th 2023 at 8:15:58 AM

Oh yeah, Thor from the Marvel verse is a white guy who is electric themed and heroic.

Also Flash is white and electric themed. And Captain Marvel. Both in the DCAU.

"The Black Rage makes us strong, because we must resist its temptations every day of our lives or be forever damned!"
alekos23 Since: Mar, 2013
RedHunter543 Crimson Paladin Since: Jul, 2016 Relationship Status: Barbecuing
Crimson Paladin
#317: Oct 18th 2023 at 8:55:39 AM

I don't watch Naruto, but doesn't the rival guy, Sasuke or something, have an electric attack or something?

"The Black Rage makes us strong, because we must resist its temptations every day of our lives or be forever damned!"
miraculous Goku Black (Apprentice)
Goku Black
#318: Oct 18th 2023 at 9:03:03 AM

Yeah. Tbf it's pretty common. The Mentor also uses lightning powers.

Each village specialises in one of five elements. Fire for the leaf village, water for the mist village, air for sand.

The cloud village uses lighting and is also the only nation with a majority black population (not all obviously)

"That's right mortal. By channeling my divine rage into power, I have forged a new instrument in which to destroy you."
wanderlustwarrior Role Model from Where Gods Belong Since: Jun, 2009 Relationship Status: What's love got to do with it?
Role Model
#319: Oct 18th 2023 at 9:38:30 AM

It's also the only location with any Black people until one of them married someone from another village years after the country was introduced.

The Naruto magic system is established so that Naruto's wind primary abilities beat Sasuke's electric abilities, but lose to his fire ones (that start and end the series as his primary abilities, but were supplanted in the middle). It goes: Fire > Wind > Lightning > Earth > Water > Fire.

Edited by wanderlustwarrior on Oct 18th 2023 at 11:40:56 AM

The sad, REAL American dichotomy
Moroaica Since: Aug, 2017
#320: Oct 18th 2023 at 9:51:31 AM

Flash and Captain Marvel aren't really electric themed. Flash has lightning on his costume but's because he's fast like lightning and can't actually shoot lightning blasts from his hand (tho in recent shows and movies he might but not in the dcau). Captain Marvel in the DCAU is also a Flying Brick, the magic lightning only is used to transform him (He did weaponize this by grabbing superman on top of him but that was pretty risky).

Windona Beetle Brained from At the intersection of eternity (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Non-Canon
Beetle Brained
#321: Oct 18th 2023 at 2:14:27 PM

Honestly, I wonder how much the Black Guys with Electric Powers holds up if you put Black Lightning and Expies to the side. Storm has lightning, but she's more weather oriented overall. Though that can be said of Weather Wizard too.

Fun fact: The Golden Age Sparky, Blue Beetle's sidekick, did not have powers.

My AO3
Sunchet Since: Oct, 2010
#322: Oct 18th 2023 at 2:21:37 PM

Probably not many. Most of them are knockoffs of him or of his knockoffs.

Moroaica Since: Aug, 2017
#323: Oct 18th 2023 at 5:56:09 PM

There's Kaldur Aqualad and Miles Morales who have them even tho their predesessors do which is... curious. Not blatant expies of BL or Static but likely were inspired.

RedHunter543 Crimson Paladin Since: Jul, 2016 Relationship Status: Barbecuing
Crimson Paladin
#324: Oct 18th 2023 at 6:17:15 PM

[up][up][up][up] They still have electric powers though.

Miles isn't even primarily electric themed himself. He has other powers besides electricity like spider powers and invisibility.

Static is primarily electric themed, and there are other black superheroes who have powers unrelated to electricity, like Green Lantern.

Edited by RedHunter543 on Oct 18th 2023 at 9:18:35 PM

"The Black Rage makes us strong, because we must resist its temptations every day of our lives or be forever damned!"
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#325: Oct 18th 2023 at 6:34:34 PM

There's Kaldur Aqualad and Miles Morales who have them even tho their predesessors do which is... curious. Not blatant expies of BL or Static but likely were inspired.

And now I'm reminded of the alternate verse one-shot were Miles is Thor...

At this point you gotta think it's a deliberate joke.

Probably not many. Most of them are knockoffs of him or of his knockoffs.

Like I said, the main reason it's a trope is because legal issues got in the way of using the og Black Lightning.

Captain Marvel in the DCAU is also a Flying Brick, the magic lightning only is used to transform him (He did weaponize this by grabbing superman on top of him but that was pretty risky).

In the comics, he's also weaponized the lightning by summoning it and dodging it at the last second so it hits something else instead. His evil / antihero counterpart Black Adam also knows this trick.

Edited by M84 on Oct 18th 2023 at 9:38:31 PM

Disgusted, but not surprised

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