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Garth Ranzz

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This article is about Live Wire (DC Comics). For the Valiant Comics character, see Livewire (Valiant Comics).
"Live Wire (DC Comics)" redirects here. For the Superman villain, see Livewire (DC Comics).
Garth Ranzz
Garth Ranzz as Lightning Lad, as depicted in Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds #1 (August 2008). Art by George Pérez.
Publication information
PublisherDC Comics
First appearanceAdventure Comics #247 (April 1958)
Created byOtto Binder
Al Plastino
In-story information
Alter egoGarth Ranzz
SpeciesWinathian
Place of originWinath
Team affiliationsLegion of Super-Heroes
Workforce
Legion Rescue Squad
Notable aliasesLightning Boy, Live Wire
AbilitiesPowers:
  • Electricity generation and manipulation
  • Electrical energy manipulation
  • Electricity absorption
  • Electrokinesis
  • Electrogenesis
  • Lightning manipulation
  • Lightning element control
  • Limited weather control
  • Ability to move at superhuman speed by channeling electricity internally

Abilities:

  • Hand to hand combat (basic)

Equipment:

  • Legion Flight Ring

Garth Ranzz, also known as Live Wire and Lightning Lad, is a superhero appearing in media published by DC Comics, usually those featuring the Legion of Super-Heroes, a 30th and 31st century group of which he is a founding member.[1] He has the superhuman ability to generate electricity, usually in the form of lightning bolts.

Garth Ranzz as Lightning Lad has appeared in various media outside comics, primarily those featuring the Legion of Super-Heroes. He is voiced by Andy Milder in Legion of Super Heroes (2006) and portrayed by Calum Worthy in Smallville.

Publication history

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The character first appeared in Adventure Comics #247 (April 1958), and was created by Otto Binder and Al Plastino.[2]

Fictional character biography

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Silver Age

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Main article: Legion of Super-Heroes (1958 team)
Lightning Lad's origin as depicted in Superman #147 (August 1961). Art by Curt Swan (penciller) and Sheldon Moldoff (inker).

Lightning Lad is a Winathian and founding member of the Legion of Super-Heroes along with Saturn Girl and Cosmic Boy.[3] He is the older twin[4] brother of fellow Legionnaire Ayla Ranzz (Lightning Lass), the younger brother of the supervillain Mekt Ranzz (Lightning Lord), and the father of two sets of twins; sons Garridan and Graym Ranzz and daughters Dacey and Dorrit Ranzz.

Early in the Legion's history, Garth is killed battling Zaryan the Conqueror and resurrected following the sacrifice of Proty, Chameleon Boy's shapeshifting pet.[5] A later retcon revealed that Proty's mind had actually taken over Lightning Lad's form, but this has since been eliminated from Legion canon.

At one point, Lightning Lad lost his right arm to a monster dubbed the "Moby Dick of space", replacing it with a bionic appendage. He eventually had his arm regrown, but in the interim a criminal scientist hypnotized Lightning Lad into becoming the criminal Starfinger. After The Great Darkness Saga, his son Garridan was abducted by Darkseid and transformed into Validus.[6]

During the "Five Year Gap" following the Magic Wars, Earth falls under the control of the Dominators and withdraws from the United Planets. A few years later, the Dominators' "Batch SW6", temporal clones of the Legionnaires, escape captivity. After Earth is destroyed in a disaster reminiscent of the destruction of Krypton over a millennium earlier, a few dozen surviving cities and their inhabitants reconstitute their world as New Earth, and the SW6 Lightning Lad assumes the code name Live Wire.[7]

Zero Hour

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Main article: Legion of Super-Heroes (1994 team)

After the Zero Hour: Crisis in Time! miniseries, Legion history was rebooted. In this version, the Ranzz siblings gained their electric powers after being stranded on the barren planet Korbal and attempting to use the Lightning Beasts to recharge their cruiser, being rendered comatose for several months.[8]

Months later, Garth and Ayla awoke simultaneously to find that Mekt had awoken around a week earlier, gained electrical powers similar to those of the Lightning Beasts, and vanished. After hearing this, Garth and Ayla kept the fact that they had developed similar powers secret, thinking that the lightning had corrupted Mekt somehow and would soon corrupt them. They refused to believe that Mekt become sociopathic, and ran away from home to find him.

Hearing that Mekt might be on Earth, he got on a shuttle bound for Earth via Titan, and met Rokk Krinn there. The two hit it off immediately, but although he developed a crush on her at first sight, Imra Ardeen gave him a frosty reception. Nonetheless, when she shouted that four "maintenance men" were assassins after R. J. Brande, the three worked together to stop them. This gave Brande an idea. Shortly after, a bar-room brawl caused Garth to be arrested, but just as his cellmates were about to beat him up, Triad came and bailed him out. Garth later learned that Triad's two other selves had retrieved Imra and Rokk. Brande convinced the three to found the Legion of Super-Heroes, with Garth taking the codename Live Wire.[9]

Garth later reunites with Mekt as he is scheming to enhance his powers by killing Lightning Beasts. Mekt, now more powerful than both of his siblings, retaliates by vaporizing Garth's right arm. Ayla grabs Mekt's laser pistol and shoots him in the leg, delaying him while Garth's wound cauterizes. As Mekt prepares to finish them off, Garth and Ayla combine their powers to stop him. Mekt is arrested by the Science Police soon afterward.[10]

In the "Legion Lost" storyline, Garth is killed in battle with Element Lad, who had become insane and assumed the name Progenitor after being lost in space. After the Progenitor's death, he leaves behind several crystals that Kid Quantum takes to the graveyard Shanghalla. Garth's essence survives in the crystals and uses them to create a humanoid crystal body.[11] In Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds, Garth regains his original body using a lightning rod created by Brainiac 5.[12]

Post-"Infinite Crisis"

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The events of "Infinite Crisis" restore an analogue of the pre-Crisis Legion to continuity.[13] Lightning Lad makes further appearances in Doomsday Clock, where Doctor Manhattan erases him and the Legion from existence before Superman convinces him to restore them.[14]

Powers and abilities

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Lightning Lad has the ability to generate electricity within his own body without harming himself. This electricity he is able to discharge in the form of potent "lightning bolts". He can also create flashing lettering which can be seen from great distances. He has occasionally displayed limited control of the weather. In more recent versions of the character, Garth is also able to direct his electric powers internally so as to move at superhuman speed, with his top speed being approximately one-third the speed of light. Lightning Lad is immune to the harmful effects of electric currents, not only those currents that he himself generates.

As a member of the Legion of Super-Heroes, Garth is provided a Legion Flight Ring, which allows him to fly and protects him from the vacuum of space and other dangerous environments.

In other media

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Television

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Lightning Lad as he appears in Legion of Super-Heroes (2006) (left) and Smallville (right)
  • Garth Ranzz as Lightning Lad makes a non-speaking cameo appearance in the Superman: The Animated Series episode "New Kids In Town".
  • Garth Ranzz as Lightning Lad makes a non-speaking cameo appearance in the Justice League Unlimited episode "Far From Home".
  • Garth Ranzz as Lightning Lad appears in Legion of Super-Heroes (2006), voiced by Andy Milder.[15] This version sports glowing blue eyes and a lightning-shaped scar over his right eye, both of which he obtained during the incident that gave him his powers. In the second season, Lightning Lad loses his right arm to Imperiex before Brainiac 5 and Shrinking Violet build him a prosthetic arm. Following this, he and his brother Mekt work together to restore their sister Ayla after discovering that she had become a disembodied energy being.
  • Garth Ranzz as Lightning Lad appears in the Smallville episode "Legion", portrayed by Calum Worthy. This version is an overzealous fan of Clark Kent.

Film

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Video games

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Miscellaneous

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References

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  1. ^ Fleisher, Michael L. (2007). The Original Encyclopedia of Comic Book Heroes, Volume Three: Superman. DC Comics. pp. 176–177. ISBN 978-1-4012-1389-3.
  2. ^ Cowsill, Alan; Irvine, Alex; Korte, Steve; Manning, Matt; Wiacek, Win; Wilson, Sven (2016). The DC Comics Encyclopedia: The Definitive Guide to the Characters of the DC Universe. DK Publishing. p. 181. ISBN 978-1-4654-5357-0.
  3. ^ Greenberger, Robert; Pasko, Martin (2010). The Essential Superman Encyclopedia. Del Rey. pp. 208–209. ISBN 978-0-345-50108-0.
  4. ^ Legionnaires #22 (February 1995)
  5. ^ Wells, John (2015). American Comic Book Chronicles: 1960-64. TwoMorrows Publishing. p. 120. ISBN 978-1605490458.
  6. ^ Legion of Super-Heroes Annual (vol. 2) #3 (October 1984)
  7. ^ Legion of Super-Heroes (vol. 4) #38 (December 1992)
  8. ^ Legion of Super-Heroes (vol. 4) #73 (October 1995)
  9. ^ Legion of Super-Heroes (vol. 4) #0 (October 1994)
  10. ^ Legionnaires #30 (October 1995)
  11. ^ The Legion #25 (December 2003)
  12. ^ Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds #3 (April 2009)
  13. ^ Action Comics #859 (January 2008)
  14. ^ Doomsday Clock #12 (December 2019)
  15. ^ a b c "Lightning Lad Voices (Legion of Super Heroes)". Behind The Voice Actors. Archived from the original on March 10, 2024. Retrieved March 10, 2024. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
  16. ^ "soranatus - Looks like in 2021 Digital eMation was working on a Scooby-Doo Meets Krypto DTV..." Tumblr. September 6, 2022. Archived from the original on March 10, 2024. Retrieved March 10, 2024.
  17. ^ Eisen, Andrew (October 4, 2013). "DC Characters and Objects - Scribblenauts Unmasked Guide". IGN. Archived from the original on October 11, 2013. Retrieved April 28, 2024.
  18. ^ "Adventures in the DC Universe #10 - The Blobs (Issue)". Comic Vine. Archived from the original on June 18, 2023. Retrieved June 22, 2023.
  19. ^ "Legion of Super-Heroes in the 31st Century #5 - Lightning Strikes (Issue)". Comic Vine. Archived from the original on June 12, 2016. Retrieved April 28, 2024.
  20. ^ "Batman '66 Meets the Legion of Super-Heroes #1 - Atomic Batteries To Power, Flight Rings To Speed (Issue)". Comic Vine. Archived from the original on October 1, 2020. Retrieved August 18, 2023.
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