Jakeem Thunder
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Jakeem Johnny Thunder (initially called J.J. Thunder, a name he dislikes) is a fictional character published by DC Comics and a member of the current version of the superhero team the Justice Society of America. Jakeem first appeares in Flash vol. 2 #134 (February 1998), and was created by Grant Morrison, Mark Millar and Paul Ryan.
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[edit] Character History
Jakeem is a precocious African-American teenager from Keystone City (home of the original and current versions of the Flash), he came into possession of Johnny Thunder's "genie" Thunderbolt. This was during a Justice League/Justice Society crossover, when the world was being threatened by an evil Thunderbolt. With Captain Marvel's help, Jakeem was able to "merge" the two Thunderbolts, with the command for summoning the Thunderbolt being So Cûl (pronounced "so cool").
Jakeem later, and somewhat reluctantly, joined the Justice Society. Like Johnny before him, he often caused trouble by wishing for things without meaning to, due to poorly-worded commands.
[edit] Last Laugh
During the "Last Laugh" story arc where certain villains in the DC universe had been affected by the Joker's laughing gas, a Jokerized Solomon Grundy attacked the JSA headquarters, knocking out the then-caretaker of the museum Alexander Montez. Jakeem and Stargirl were the only two at the headquarters at the time to fight against Grundy, who soon retreated after taking Jakeem's pen which contained the Thunderbolt. Jakeem told Stargirl he wanted to get the pen back not because he saw the Thunderbolt as his power, but because the Thunderbolt was his friend.
During the fight with Grundy, Jakeem jumped on his back with a can of paint he used to spray Grundy in the eye. Grundy then knocked Jakeem off of him and continued after Stargirl pinning her against the wall. Bleeding from the mouth, Jakeem saw that his pen had fallen into a small sewer. Realizing that Stargirl was in trouble, he desperately stretched to reach the pen which was just beyond his finger tips. In doing so, a purplish-pink wave of energy appeared in Jakeem's eyes and around the pen which levitated up into his grasp. Jakeem briefly wondered how he was able to do this feat, but then decided to figure it out later as he summoned the Thunderbolt (who appeared cracking his knuckles ready for the fight) and told him to burn Grundy from the inside out. After the fight, Stargirl and Jakeem had come to see each other on better terms.
[edit] Johnny Thunder
When Johnny Thunder returned, having apparently recovered from Alzheimer's disease as the result of one of Jakeem's wishes, he demanded the Thunderbolt back. However, it turned out that this was actually the villainous Ultra-Humanite, controlling Johnny's body. Jakeem was able to wrest control of the Thunderbolt back, but Johnny lost his life. Jakeem then wished that the Thunderbolt could save Johnny somehow. In desperation, the Thunderbolt merged with Johnny, creating a new being with the memories of both (although a recent issue of JSA, dealing with a Jakeem "gone mad", has shown a Johnny separate from the genie and a denizen of the fifth dimension, part of the "Thunderbolt family").
Recently when returning from the fifth dimension with Mr. Terrific, Hourman and Stargirl, they saw Mordru battling with Nabu. Mr. Terrific was about to give orders to attack Mordru when Jakeem intervened and told them to sit back (previously Mordru had slit his throat). Jakeem grabbed Mordru in a rear naked choke while stabbing him in the throat with his pen, then saying "so cool" to summon the Thunderbolt from out of the pen, which eletrocuted Mordru. Jakeem then asked the Thunderbolt to remove Mordru from their sight, which was followed by a please.
[edit] Current status
Jakeem resents being seen as a kid by the rest of the team, especially Stargirl, although as the closest to his age on the team, he sees her as a friend. Living in Keystone, he has formed a friendship with Bart Allen, at the time the teenage superhero Kid Flash (formerly known as Impulse, currently known as The Flash).
