Lightning: What Can’t it Do?

Electricity. It is one of the greatest discoveries in human history and has allowed us to do so much (for example, power the device you’re reading this blog on). And nothing is a better example of the primal power of electricity than the lightning bolt. Ancient people developed belief systems around it. Nearly forty people in the United States are killed by it every year. It is a powerful force of nature. But when lightning is taken from the real world into the fictional, it gains strange new abilities that seem to be unlimited.

 

The easiest hero to associate with lightning is The Flash. Not only does this character use lightning as his symbol, but also a lightning strike figures directly into the origin of the character. I am of course referring to Barry Allen, the second Flash, and probably the version of the character that is most well known. Barry Allen was a police forensic scientist who while working in his lab is doused with a variety of chemicals and is struck by lightning. This mixture of chemicals and electricity grants Barry super speed. Inspired by Jay Garrick, the original Flash, Barry becomes the new Flash.

Barry Allen would go on to establish a legacy of Flashes. His nephew, Wally West, would experience a similar accident to Barry and take on the identity of Kid Flash. After Barry Allen sacrifices his life during Crisis on Infinite Earths, Wally picks up the mantle of the Flash and honors Barry’s legacy. Barry’s grandson Bart Allen, who inherited his grandfather’s speed, would also take on the mantles of Flash and Kid Flash. Many more of his descendants would also carry on the Flash legacy. All this from just one little lightning strike.

It sometimes seems like in the world of comic books that lightning is almost magic. Or maybe it IS magic. The hero Captain Marvel (DC’s not Marvel’s), another hero whose symbol is a lightning bolt, in reality is actually young orphan Billy Batson. Billy was chosen by the ancient wizard Shazam to be earth’s mightiest mortal. Whenever Billy says the word “Shazam” he is struck by lightning and transforms into Captain Marvel. And like the Flash, Captain Marvel also has a legacy of heroes with Mary Marvel and Captain Marvel Jr., both of whom are powered by the same mystical lightning. 

More than just giving people super powers, lightning seems to have the power to even bring the dead back to life. I’m sure we are all familiar with the tale of Frankenstein. If you haven’t read the book you’ve probably seen one of the dozens of film adaptations or, in my case, one of the many graphic novel retellings of the tale. The character of Doctor Frankenstein and his monster (often mistakenly called Frankenstein by the uninformed) has become a pop culture icon. And in almost all versions of the story, the key ingredient to reanimating the helter-skelter assortment of body parts is a lightning bolt.

Since this entire blog entry is about lightning, I feel I must give mention to the most famous lightning scene in cinematic history. The lightning strike in Back to the Future. Once again a bolt from the heavens is the solution to our heroes’ problem. Using information from the future, Marty McFly and Doc Brown are able to power the time machine with a strategically harnessed lightning strike that will power the flux capacitor. While there is nothing magical or superhuman about this lightning bolt, in fact they are utilizing the lightning as electricity, it is an important plot device, which is a magical thing for fiction writers.

"Batman don't need no lightning"

The world of fiction takes many liberties with the properties of the natural world to suit the purpose of storytelling. Things are embellished and exaggerated for the purpose of grandeur and entertainment. It makes perfect sense that such a raw power as lightning would gain just as sanctified a position in a world populated by amazing beings, god like humans and impossible science.