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Black Vulcan

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SuperFriends Team Member

Black Vulcan (03x14b - Doomsday)

"Great Lightning!"
— Black Vulcan


Black Vulcan is a superhero with the ability to control lightning. He can also travel at the speed of light and beyond, allowing him to break the time barrier and travel through time.

While not only a Co-Founder member of the Justice League of America, he is a founding member of the SuperFriends!

While ‘Black Vulcan’ and ‘Black Lightning’ are the same character i, we assume that both characters are virtually the same characters set in two different universes of the larger multiverse.


Background Information[]

Continuity From Earth-1A[]

Earth-1A Continuity
Olympic decathlete, Jefferson Michael Pierce returned to his old neighborhood in the Southside (Suicide Slum) section of the city of Metropolis called freeland with his wife Lynn Stewart and his daughters Anissa & Jennifer to become the principal of Garfield High School. Southside, as it was once known, was where his father renowned journalist Alvin Pierce had been murdered. Guilt over this event was a factor in his decision to leave this Ghetto city of Metropolis called Freeland. Suicide Slum also known as Freeland was being torn apart by a local organized criminal gang called the 100, shady corporations, and crooked local politicians like Tobias Whale. A family friend and tailor, Peter Gambi, had taught a much younger Jefferson how to suppress his inborn metahuman abilities so that he would not accidentally hurt any of the people he cared about.[17] Upon his return, Gambi suggested to Jefferson that he should use his powers to help the neighborhood, and refers him to a plaque with the paraphrased Milo Sweetman quote "Justice, like lightning, should ever appear to some men hope, to other men fear". (The original text of which was "Justice, like lightning, ever should appear to few men's ruin, but to all men's fear. Of mortal justice if thou scorn the rod, believe and tremble, thou art judged of God".) Appalled by the public murder of his student Earl Clifford, Pierce tried to intervene on behalf of the schoolchildren but quickly learned that the 100 objected violently to any interference. Pierce adopts the costumed identity Black Vulcan where he had the costume, mask, and lightingbolt helmet by Gambi. On September 6, 1967Co-founded the Justice League Alongside Aquaman, Batman, Robin, Superman, Wonder Woman, Hawkman, the Flash, Martian Manhunter, the Atom, Samurai, Hawkman, & Green Lantern but unfortunately the team ended up disbanding after their Co-Founding member Martian Manhunter left earth in 1973 they decided to to rebrand themselves as the Superfriends So the other members decided to Superman when he stated "the best way for us to combat crime and be prepared for world-wide emergencies is to work together. From now on, we'll be the SuperFriends."The heroes on hand for this historic occasion were Aquaman, The Atom, Batman, Robin, Superman, Wonder Woman, Hawkman, the Flash, Green Lantern, Black Vulcan and Samurai. This arrangement was spear-headed by Superman, Batman and Robin, Aquaman and Wonder Woman (the core-five) and included the training of young people (or Junior Super Friends) for law enforcement at the Hall of Justice. Marvin White and Wendy Harris, and later Zan and Jayna of the Wonder Twins are the first of the trainees.Exclusive to the Earth-1A universe, exists the Legion of Doom, an organized body of self-proposed Supervillains led by Lex Luthor. Black Vulcan, along with the SuperFriends and a few Justice Leaguers would battle the villainous group on many occasions for the remainder of the decade.Black Vulcan raided the Pyramids of Egypt while his unconscious mind was being controlled by Lex Luthor's dream machine. He seemed to be enjoying it, though, implying he was the only Super Friend that was conscious throughout the entire ordeal. In 1985 he left the Superfriends to focus more on protecting his fellow natives of his hometown freeland.


Powers and Abilities[]

Powers[]

Abilities[]

Weakness[]

Personality[]

Black Vulcan was the most surprised member of the SuperFriends after Robin. Almost 80% of his dialogue was "Great Lightning!" You'd think he'd stop being so genuinely surprised considering the people he hangs out with! Aside from his physical appearance and the sound of his voice, there was no way to tell he was black, as he was written like any other character. (At the time, black characters were written with dialects or spoke jive.) He did, however, talk in electricity-related puns. "I'll electrify you with the shock of your life!"


SuperFriends Team Members[]

Members of the Justice League

Justice League:
Aquaman (founding member) • Batman (founding member) • Superman (founding member) • Flash (founding member)
Green Lantern (founding member) • Martian Manhunter (founding member) • Wonder Woman (founding member)

Comic Book JLA Team Members:
Black Canary • Elongated Man • Red Tornado • Zatanna Zatara
Phantom Stranger (part-time Leaguer) • Sargon, The Sorcerer (honorary Leaguer)

Other Known Justice Leaguers:
 The Huntress • Black Orchid • Captain Marvel • Supergirl • Green Fury • Plastic Man • Atom • Green Arrow

SuperFriends Founding Members:
Superman • Batman • Wonder Woman • Aquaman
Hawkman • Samurai • Green Lantern • Flash • Black Vulcan

Other Known SuperFriends Members:
Hawkgirl • Apache Chief • El Dorado • Rima

Junior SuperFriends:
Robin • Cyborg • Firestorm
Zan • Jayna
Marvin White • Wendy Harris

Mascots:
Gleek • Wonder Dog


Episode Appearances[]

Season 2: The All-New Super Friends Hour (1977):

Season 3: Challenge of the SuperFriends (1978):

Hanna Barbera’s Super Friends, Season 5 (1980):

Hanna Barbera’s Super Friends, Season 6 (1981):

Hanna Barbera’s Super Friends, Season 7 (1983):

Season 8: SuperFriends: The Legendary Super Powers Show (1984):

Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law (2000-2007):

  • Very Personal Injury
  • X the Exterminator
  • Blackwatch Plaid (non-speaking cameo)
  • Trio's Company
  • Peanut Puberty
  • Droopy Botox
  • Guitar Control (voice-only cameo)
  • Booty Noir
  • Sebben and Sebben Employee Orientation
  • Babysitter (non-speaking cameo)
  • The Death of Harvey: Part 2
  • Harvey Birdman, Attorney General

Notes[]

  • As originally depicted, Black Vulcan's costume had the super-hero equivalent of pants, but in later episodes his legs are bare.
  • The character of Black Vulcan was created by Jeffrey Scott and Hanna-Barbera Productions and is unique to the continuity of the Super Friends television series. [citation needed]
  • When developing Season 2 of the ’SuperFriends’, Hanna-Barbera wanted to use the character of Black Lightning, but they decided not to because they would have had to pay royalties to Tony Isabella, the creator of Black Lightning. So instead they decided to create a similar character called ‘Black Vulcan’ and DC let them do it. In response, Isabella, in Black Lightning #10 (August, 1978), wrote a story called “The Other Black Lightning”; where a villain called ‘Barbara Hanna’ used a Black Lightning impostor named Jocko as part of her crime syndicate. At the end, Black Lightning forgives Jocko and believes he can be a superhero - if he stops impersonating him, of course. DC published the story anyway, as Isabella said in an interview “I don’t think they realized what I was doing there.”[citation needed]
    • Comics historian Don Markstein, notes that the ‘Black Lightning’ character debuted in Black Lightning #1, dated April, 1977. Isabella wrote the script, with Trevor von Eeden doing the pencils and Frank Springer on the inks. Isabella and von Eeden remained on the title throughout its 11-issue run, which ended when, in 1978, DC abruptly cut back drastically on its entire line. Before it was finished, the hero was offered membership in The Justice League of America, and became the third (after Adam Strange and Metamorpho) to turn them down. (He eventually joined, but decades went by first.) [1]
    • Markstein continues by stating that ‘Black Lightning’ wasn't named after Johnny Thunder's horse. He was named after a menace on a Wonder Woman cover that Isabella chanced to run across.[2]
    • Black Lightning was the first African-American superhero to have his own solo series. Though short lived, the series is known as an iconic addition to DC's history.
    • An action figure of Black Lightning was made for the Super Powers Collection by Industrial Toy Werks.
    • Decades later, DC's owning company, Warner Brothers, finally had their legal department examine the Isabella's claim on Black Lightning closely. As it turned out, it was discovered that Isabella's claim had no basis in reality and WB, and by extension H-B, was actually free to use Black Lightning as they pleased without paying Isabella anything. However, that legal misconception has still had lasting effect with the creative workarounds over the years creating the habit of creating African-American superheroes with electricity based powers, such as Static.
  • Black Vulcan is the only team member who remembers to wear a helmet while in space or in the ocean.
  • In Cracked's video "Wonder Woman's Sex Tape," Black Vulcan is shown hosting a show on BET entitled Once You Go Black.
  • Black Vulcan, in his first appearances, would shout his name before using his powers, similar to other Hanna-Barbera heroes like Space Ghost and Birdman. This subsided in later appearances.
  • His catchphrase "Great Lightning!" has become a popular Internet meme, no thanks in part to Seanbaby.
  • Black Vulcan was combined with DC Comics character, Static in Young Justice as part of the show's group of teen Super Friends analogues where he is voiced by Bryton James.
  • Black Vulcan was going to get a Super Powers Collection (1984-86) action figure, but it was shelved as Cyborg proved to be the more popular black superhero.
    • A Black Vulcan figure was released years later in a Justice League Unlimited three-pack, accompanied by his ‘Super Friends’ teammates Apache Chief and Samurai.
    • A 6 inch Black Vulcan action figure was released in Mattel's DC Universe Classics Wave 18, which was primarily dedicated to Super Friends characters.[3]
    • Black Vulcan was also newly released in 2016 as an 8-inch Mego-like action figure by Figures Toy Company.
    • Additionally, Black Vulcan has been released in Lego format, appearing in Series 2 of the Lego Batman Minifigure line.
  • Comic book artist and Super Friends fan Alex Ross intended to create a modernized version of Black Vulcan for his rejected Captain Marvel series. The title would have had the character reimagined as ‘Vulcan’, an African American child who could become an adult superhero after accidentally gaining some of the powers of the wizard Shazam.[4]
  • Black Vulcan made a cameo appearance in the DC One Million 80-Page Giant special as part of one of the many alternate Justice Leagues that accidentally ended up in the headquarters of the Justice Legion Alpha. This would mark his first official ‘DC’ appearance.[5]


Appearances in Other Media[]


See Also[]


External Links[]

Reference[]

  1. ↑ As revealed in on-line article entitled, BLACK LIGHTNING by Don Markstein over at Toonopedia.
  2. ↑ As revealed in on-line article entitled, BLACK LIGHTNING by Don Markstein over at Toonopedia.
  3. ↑ DC Universe Classics 18: Black Vulcan review, OAFE.net
  4. ↑ Smith, Zach (January 6, 2011). "An Oral History of CAPTAIN MARVEL: The Modern Years". Newsarama.
  5. ↑ Click here] for more information about this comic.
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