this post was submitted on 19 May 2026
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Title pretty much sums it up. Watched a video recently where someone was asked to name a black superhero that didn't have lightning based powers and while I could name a few it made me realize just how prevalent the trope is.

But why?

Edit: Y'all I'm not asking for examples of black heroes that don't have lightning powers. I'm asking why it's a trope to begin with ๐Ÿ˜ฎโ€๐Ÿ’จ

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[โ€“] impudentmortal@lemmy.world 65 points 2 months ago (2 children)

This article does a pretty good job of explaining the history of black superheroes with electrical powers.

To summarize, the popularity of Black Lightning along with copyright issues lead to the creation of a few copycat heroes (ex: Black Vulcan in Super Friends, Juice from Justice League Unlimited). There's also the possibility of electricity being a versatile power and the popularity of Storm from X-men and Static.

Someone in the comments section also noted that it could also be an artistic choice since the colors of electricity would contrast better with black characters than lighter skin characters. That seems like a stretch to me but that is another theory.

[โ€“] zout@fedia.io 26 points 2 months ago (2 children)

A pornstar from my country (decades ago) said that she preferred working with black men because of the contrast on screen. Totally unrelated tidbit, but it makes sense to me that the same goes here.

[โ€“] k0e3@lemmy.ca 23 points 2 months ago

Big Black Contrast.

[โ€“] ggtdbz@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 2 months ago (1 children)

New bit idea: guy who insists he doesnโ€™t have any internalized racism to confront, since he doesnโ€™t have a sexual preference for interracial scenes, he simply believes they are better from a composition and cinematography perspective

[โ€“] vinceman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 2 months ago

This sounds like how Bill Maher would say it, immediately followed by like, the most blatant racism.

[โ€“] snooggums@piefed.world 18 points 2 months ago

Great article!

I also think the contrast reason is very plausible for the early designs as colors and contrast are a massive part of design in comics.

[โ€“] jordanlund@lemmy.world 23 points 2 months ago

Started really with Storm in 1975, although, yeah, her powers are weather control, not specifically lightning, but lightning is definitely her power move.

Before Storm, you had Black Panther, Black Goliath, and Luke Cage, not electrical powers.

But AFTER that...

Black Lightning - 1977

Black Lightning is a great character, but Tony Isabella holds the rights to him so it gets complicated doing stuff with the character.

As a result, you get Black Lightning knock offs that can be used without the rights entanglement.

Black Vulcan - 1977 (Super Friends animation)

Static - 1993 (comics), 2000 (animation).

[โ€“] bizarroland@lemmy.world 21 points 2 months ago

I personally think that it started with the fact that the contrast of the yellow lightning worked really well against black skin in the comics.

Then I'm assuming that it became a trope.

[โ€“] TabbsTheBat@pawb.social 20 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Hey I watched a video on this years ago :3

I think it basically boiled down to they all have lightning powers, because the first black hero did, and then everyone copied it (and also good contrast or something)

[โ€“] kersploosh@sh.itjust.works 19 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Frozone

Edit: There's a 2-year-old thread on that other site that asked the same question and received lots of examples. I get that tropes and stereotypes exist, but I'm not sure black superheroes and lightning fits the bill.

https://www.reddit.com/r/comicbooks/comments/1gpxcn2/black_superheroes_without_electric_powers/

[โ€“] Proprietary_Blend@lemmy.world 16 points 2 months ago (2 children)
[โ€“] Chais@sh.itjust.works 8 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Probably not the worst explanation.

That's high praise on Lenny

[โ€“] fiat_lux@lemmy.zip 6 points 2 months ago (5 children)

It probably also helps that the dense clouds appear black, and dense clouds mean a more severe storm. I wonder if the ink contrast is more of a perk than the primary reason, compared to darkness being a convenient power metaphor for storms.

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[โ€“] DomeGuy@lemmy.world 11 points 2 months ago

The question may be better phrased as the complimentary of what you asked.

Not why do all these black superfolk have lightning powers, but instead why are so many superfolk with lightning powers black?

I suspect the answer is kin to why so many characters with fire-themed powers have red hair, or why so many superheroes with facial hair are wizards.

[โ€“] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 points 2 months ago

Because of Usain Bolt

Probably

[โ€“] early_riser@lemmy.world 7 points 2 months ago (10 children)

TV Tropes has an article on this that probably does a better job explaining than I could.

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ElectricBlackGuy

[โ€“] ChickenZenphyre@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Nice, the first example given was naruto.

[โ€“] Witchfire@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

The first example given is literally called Black Lightning, but yes, the Naruto universe heads the Anime list

[โ€“] berno@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

Naruto is spiritually black

Naruto flute music

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[โ€“] LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 7 points 2 months ago

about your edit: Posting anything on social media is an invitation to contradict your premise, regardless of how emphatically you say what the real point of your post is.

[โ€“] neidu3@sh.itjust.works 5 points 2 months ago (2 children)

That guy from Mystery Men who could turn invisible if nobody was watching.. he was black, wasn't he?

[โ€“] content_educator_94@thelemmy.club 2 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Yes, Invisible Boy was black

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[โ€“] Janx@piefed.social 2 points 2 months ago

I don't think clear is a skin color.

[โ€“] imetators@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Never heard of this trope.

Off the top of my head: War Machine, Black Panther, Blade, Cyborg, Bishop, Storm, ~~Spiderman (Miles)~~.

The only black comics character with lightning super powers I know is Electro from The Amazing Spiderman who also used to be white in old comics.

Is this really a trope? Can someone name 10 black superheroes with lightning powers?

Edit: Yeah, forgot Miles has some sort of electricity/lightning powers.

[โ€“] tmyakal@infosec.pub 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Can someone name 10 black superheroes with lightning powers?

Miles Morales / Spider-Man Storm (plus other weather, but lightning is there) Static Shock Black Lightning Thunder Black Vulcan

Off the top of my head, I can only get to six. But I don't think I could come up with that many white heroes with lightning powers.

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[โ€“] setsneedtofeed@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago (2 children)

The fact that you're getting so many replies about other characters should be a sign the premise of the question is faulty. You're asking people to stop giving you examples that contradict your confirmation bias.

[โ€“] impudentmortal@lemmy.world 10 points 2 months ago

It's not confirmation bias but rather slight functional illiteracy from commenters. The original question is basically asking what's the connection between black superheroes and having electrical powers; or in other words why is it a trope.

Nowhere in the title or the short note did OP ask people to name black superheroes without electrical powers. He only says that he saw a video that asked people to do that.

Even if you ignore the note, the title itself isn't asking for examples of exceptions but rather for an explanation. It's kind of like if someone asked why so many members of Congress are old and white, and the responses were just listing non-white and/or younger representatives.

[โ€“] ThatWeirdGuy1001@lemmy.world 7 points 2 months ago

Except I stated that I know other black characters exist that don't have lightning powers. I know not all black superheroes have lightning powers but there's enough of them that I've noticed it's a trope.

[โ€“] lordnikon@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

Wait till you see the red heads being turned into black characters pattern.

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[โ€“] fox2263@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)
[โ€“] ThatWeirdGuy1001@lemmy.world 10 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I'm not asking for examples of black superheroes who don't have lightning powers. I'm asking why it's a trope to begin with.

[โ€“] fox2263@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I think thereโ€™s only a handful and canโ€™t really be called a trope when youโ€™ve had just as many examples of black superheroes without lightning powers.

Thereโ€™s a few white ones too. Thor for example. Shazam. Flash. Wonder Woman

[โ€“] backalleycoyote@lemmy.today 2 points 2 months ago

Not sure Thor counts as his origin is based on real world mythology that predates comic book superheroes by about 1000 years. Marvel may have fit him into their fictional world, but his powers and persona were established. Like DC using Lucifer. Their comic version isnโ€™t quite the Biblical version but most readers are passingly familiar with the fundamentals of his character without needing a backstory.

[โ€“] HubertManne@piefed.social 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I don't really think it is. I know you don't want a list of non lightening but like I can't think of any except black lightening and static shock who sorta seemed to be just a teenage copy of black lightening. I guess you can include storm but her powers are around the weather which lightening is just one aspect. Honestly hers is the only real lighening as the others are electric powers. Just in recent movies we have black panther, falcon, luke cage, war machine, and cyborg showing up in films. Not sure if John Stewart has shown up in dc's green lantern related stuff but anyone who read comics will be familiar with him.

[โ€“] usualsuspect191@lemmy.ca 5 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Miles Morales is an interesting example of the trope though, as the other spider-heroes don't have the electrical powers while he does.

On Spider-Man, Electro isn't black in the comics but was in Amazing Spider-Man which is also maybe a hint of the trope.

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[โ€“] SolidShake@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (4 children)

Black panther Like Cage Miles Morales Green Lantern

[โ€“] Peruvian_Skies@sh.itjust.works 13 points 2 months ago

Miles Morales has the Venom Shock.

[โ€“] ThatWeirdGuy1001@lemmy.world 6 points 2 months ago

I'm not asking for examples of black superheroes who don't have lightning powers. I'm asking why it's a trope to begin with.

[โ€“] Kolanaki@pawb.social 4 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Green Lantern can have lightning powers. It would just be green because yellow is evil. ๐Ÿคทโ€โ™‚๏ธ

[โ€“] nocturne@slrpnk.net 3 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Spawn, Shadowhawk, Bishop, Titan, Cyborg, Deathlok, War Machine, Steel, Blade, Cloak, Falcon, and Sunspot

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