Thunder and Lightning (comics)

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Thunder and Lightning


Thunder and Lignting in their first appearance, by George Perez

Publisher DC Comics
First appearance New Teen Titans #32 (1983)
Created by Marv Wolfman
George Perez
Characteristics
Alter ego Gan and Tavis Williams
Abilities Can generate thunder and lightning; psychic link.

Thunder and Lightning are a duo of superpowered brothers of DC Comics that had encounters with the Teen Titans.

[edit] History

Gan and Tavis Williams are twin brothers that were born of a Vietnamese woman and an American soldier named Lt. Walter Williams. Originally conjoined twins, they were separated with magic. As children, they found themselves beginning to manifest superpowers. However, they had little control over these powers, and without an infusion of their father's blood, they would quickly burn themselves out. So, they took the aliases Thunder and Lightning, respectively, and set off to America to search for their father. They caused major disturbances in St. Louis and engaged in battle against the Teen Titans. However, after their aims were revealed, the Titans decided to help the pair. Months later, the Teen Titans and S.T.A.R. Labs were working on a cure for Thunder and Lightning's powers. At the same time, Raven, using her powers, discovered that their father was actually an alien who had crash landed in Cambodia six hundred years ago, and was currently being held hostage by the H.I.V.E. as they tried to exploit knowledge from him. When they located him, H.I.V.E. controlled the alien in a fight against Thunder and Lightning and the Teen Titans. In the end, Thunder and Lightning were forced to kill their father to protect their new friends. However, a blood sample from their father allowed S.T.A.R. Labs to create the cure that would allow Thunder and Lightning to control their powers. They resettled in San Francisco as security guards for S.T.A.R. until Trigon briefly took control of them. They were captured and held in stasis at S.T.A.R. Labs until they could be free from the demon seeds. It appears as if somewhere they freed themselves of the seeds as the two of them later returned to help the Titans battle the Justice League who were trying to stop former Titans member Vic Stone (formerly Cyborg, then transformed into Cyberion) from fulfilling his Technis Imperative. After that, they returned to Southern Vietnam to defend it from an unknown alien threat.

[edit] Powers

Thunder is able to control thunder as he manifests as rumbling noises which he can control to varying degrees. Lightning is able to release bolts of electricity and harness lightning. The two have a psychic link that allows them to communicate with each other.

[edit] In the Teen Titans animated series

Thunder and Lightning from "Forces of Nature"
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Thunder and Lightning from "Forces of Nature"

Thunder and Lightning are brothers who just want to have fun, but they make life miserable for everyone else. Their powers are thunderous sound blasts and lightning bolts respectively. When they combine their powers, they can cause rain. Thunder is rather large, has a deep voice, and wears blue samurai armor. Lightning is skinny, speaks in a high, fast voice, wears a yellow-orange suit of samurai armor, and wears his hair in a style reminiscent of a lightning bolt. Slade, diguised as the "Old One", tricked Thunder and Lightning into setting fire to some posts which created a giant fire monster bent on destroying the city. It was stopped when Thunder and Lightning joined their powers to make it rain, therefore putting out the Fire.

The two of them were also watched by the Brotherhood of Evil in "Homecoming: Part 2", although they were not given their own communicator in "Forces of Nature". Chances are they received communicators from the Teen Titans during one of the unaired missions. They both later appeared as Thunder attempted to fight off the I.N.S.T.I.G.A.T.O.R. and Steamroller, while Lightning takes on Overload, all sent by the Brotherhood of Evil. They were overpowered and flash-frozen by Professor Chang. However, Más Y Menos freed them, and they joined in the final battle in the Brotherhood headquarters. Thunder is seen attacking many villains with a giant thunder explosion.

Thunder is played by S. Scott Bullock and Lightning is played by Quinton Flynn.

The brothers also appear in Teen Titans Go! #6. Note: Thunder and Lightning were the first honorary Titans to appear on the show and in the comic books based on the show.