Livewire (DC Comics)

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caption=Cover to " Action Comics" #835. Art by Kalman Andrasofszky.
comic_color=background:#8080ff
character_name=Livewire
real_name=Leslie Willis
publisher=DC Comics
debut="", Action Comics #835
creators=Evan Dorkin, Sarah Dyer, Bruce Timm
alliance_color=background:#c0c0ff
status=Active
alliances=Superman Revenge Squad
Secret Society
previous_alliances=
aliases=
relatives=
powers=Electricity and magnetism powers|

Livewire is a supervillainess in the DC Universe. She first appeared in "", voiced by Lori Petty. She appeared in the Superman comic books beginning in 2006.

Fictional character history

Animated series

Leslie Willis was once Metropolis' most controversial shock jock. No one was immune to her venomous words, not even Superman. She took great joy in bashing him, and Lex Luthor enjoyed listening to her every morning.

One evening during a severe thunderstorm, Willis was hosting a rock concert in honor of her anniversary working at the radio station in Centennial Park in downtown Metropolis. Ignoring the public safety concerns by Metropolis authorities, and the changeable skies, Willis demanded the show to go on.

It was about that time Superman showed up to help the police. Willis' fans showed support for her by throwing stuff at the Man of Steel, when suddenly, lightning struck the stage, setting it on fire. When Superman pushed Willis to safety, he got struck in the process. The lightning ran through a wire on stage which Willis then stepped on, transferring some of Superman's powerFact|date=January 2008 to Willis and changing her appearance.

When Willis woke up, she saw that her skin had turned ghostly white and her hair turned blue and stood on end. She accused Superman for the injuries she had suffered from the accident she created. She was about to throw a clock-radio at the TV on which she had seen Superman talking to reporters about the accident when the radio suddenly turned on. It was not plugged into the wall, there were no batteries in it. She discovered she could manipulate electricity.

Willis then escaped from the hospital by turning herself into an electric current. Confronting Superman, she had rearranged the electrons of the hospital gown she was wearing into a black leotard with a lightning bolt down the front and black boots. She then declared herself to now be Livewire, and took over the telephones, televisions, and billboards-effectively taking over all of media. However, Superman stopped her when he doused her with water.

She had a short-lived alliance with Parasite and later had an alliance with Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy.

Lori Petty voiced Livewire in "" and "The New Batman Adventures". Maria Canals Barrera voiced Livewire in "Justice League". Her powers and appearance have striking similarities to the controversial "Superman Blue".

In an episode of the "Justice League" animated series, Livewire teamed up with the Superman Revenge Squad to get revenge on Superman. When some of its members were defeated and Toyman's machine sent Superman into the future with them thinking that Superman is dead, Kalibak and Livewire later attacked the scene of the incident with Copperhead, Volcana, Star Sapphire, and Deadshot. When it came to Season 3 of "Justice League Unlimited", Livewire later returned as a member of Grodd's Secret Society. Although not frozen by Killer Frost, Livewire appears to have been one of the many unlucky supervillains destroyed in Darkseid's explosion. Given the nature of her powers, however, her death cannot be verified - if she did survive, however, she is most likely stranded deep in interstellar space.

Comics

In "Action Comics" #835, Gail Simone and John Byrne brought Livewire into the mainstream DC Universe, in the same tradition as Harley Quinn.

Much like the DCAU version of Livewire, before she gained her abilities, she was also a shock jock. Going by the DJ name Leslie, her show was dedicated to bashing upon Superman every night, claiming that Superman was only saving people in the name of grandstanding and showing off. She also shows a disdain for fellow broadcaster Billy Batson, aka Captain Marvel. Her career as a shock jock was cut short when the owner of the station, Miguel, decided to turn the station into a country station. Miguel was also quite pleased that she was fired because his wife was saved by Superman.

Unlike the DCAU version of Livewire, she was born with the gift of controlling electricity. Enraged at the loss of her job, she went to the top of the station where she was struck by lightning. Absorbing a large amount of energy from the lightning bolt, her appearance changed to a chalk-white skin with blue hair. With that change, she decided that she would now take her revenge out on Superman.

In "Action Comics" #842, Livewire gets kidnapped along with most of the other Metahumans on Earth. Her unique powers allow her, Superman and several other captives to escape their containment fields. While most have their powers completely nullified, Livewire still has the ability to manipulate, and sense electromagnetic energy. But she doesn't have the ability to direct it as a weapon or absorb large quantities of it. She then helps Superman and the others by creating a two-way video phone link between the alien ship and JSA headquarters. Later in #843, Livewire shortcircuits several systems on the ship and forces its owner to release them by threatening (at Superman's suggestion) to broadcast his databases galaxy-wide. During this story arc she also shows that she is physically attracted to Nightwing.

In Teen Titans #51, Livewire is shown to be under the control of Starro.

In the Superman Adventures comics, based on the DCAU animated series, Livewire makes an appearance in issue #5, "Balance of Power", and in the 2 issue finale, "Power Play" featuring Lex Luthor and Darkseid.

Video Games

Livewire appears as a boss in the "" video game, which was released in 2002 for the Nintendo GameCube and PlayStation 2 home consoles.

Powers and abilities

Livewire is a being of pure energy, able to transform into electricity (her skintight costume is made up of ionized air) and travel through anything that will conduct an electric current. She can externally manipulate electricity (along with electric and magnetic fields), and conjure lightning blasts of various intensities and lengths. In her electrical state, she can possess and control any devices along a grid that conduct electricity - notably, consumer electronics and telecommunications networks. Her lightning blasts can weaken or stun Superman. Also (as stated by Superman in Action comics #843) Livewire has the ability to broadcast the energy she has stored in the form of a coherent signal (radio wave, etc..), without directing the energy at a target.

Livewire's weakness is water. Even a small amount of water will cause her stored energy to go haywire. However, if she has enough power, she can survive being splashed without completely losing her powers and suffering only a minor drain. Livewire has to be drenched in water to suffer a major power loss.

While live-wired, she can store a vast amount of electricity, though it is not infinite. When drained of her electricity, she reverts back to her solid form and cannot use most of her abilities or transform into living electricity until absorbing at least a minimal amount of electric power from some source. However, even when depowered, she can direct the flow of free electricity from an available energy source to re-power herself.

In the episode "" of "Superman: The Animated Series", when she wanted to recharge her powers at a hydroelectric plant, Livewire displayed extraordinary strength by lifting one of the power units that stored electricity that she could drain.

External links

* [http://pc59te.dte.uma.es/cdb/series/dc/alivewire.htm Comic Book Character Database]