Jennifer Pierce

**Jennifer Pierce** is the deuteragonist in *Black Lightning*.

## Early Life

Jennifer was born on October 7th, 2001, to Jefferson and Lynn Pierce, as the younger sister of Anissa as well. At some point, she witnessed her father come home bloody and injured and asked why he was in that condition. Her mother shielded her away from the site and told him she wanted a divorce. Jennifer is also a main character in the comic books. She then found out that she had powers.

## Throughout the Series

### Season 1

In *The Resurrection*, Jennifer was first seen waiting, along with her dad, at the police station for Anissa to be released from custody. While she waited, she texted Kiesha about the situation. Once Anissa was released, she handed her sister a dress to change into for the fundraiser. In the car, she continued texting Kiesha while being annoyed with her father and sister arguing over the protest. When they got pulled over by the cops, she started to record, but Jefferson told her to stop. Jefferson got out of the car, and he was immediately slammed into the patrol car. Angered, Jennifer told them to leave him alone and tried to open her door, but an officer kicked it closed. After Jefferson got back into the car, they continued en route to the fundraiser.

At the fundraiser, Jennifer and Kiesha were in the bathroom applying makeup and getting dressed for Club 100. Anissa found them and asked where they were going. She lied about them going to at Khalil's house for a party and begged for Anissa to cover for her. After some hesitation, Anissa allowed them to go, but she made Jennifer promised to be back home on time.

At Club 100, Jennifer danced and smoked marijuana until she noticed Will staring at her. They sat down at a table and started chatting with each other. When she missed her curfew, Anissa tried to warn her that their father knows, but Jennifer paid no attention. While she and Will talked, 100 gang members sat down at their table. Jennifer tried to get up and leave, but one of the members stopped her. She and Will were taken into Lala's office. In his office, Jennifer tried to explain how she only met Wil for the first time that night, but he kept dismissing her. She watched as Lala yelled and beat Will for the money that he owed him. Lala suggested that Jennifer become a prostitute to help pay back the debt, but she disagreed and kneed Will in his groin. Suddenly, gunshots went off at the club and everyone went outside to see what's going on except for Jennifer. After everything died down, she came out the office and started to cry at the scene and ran out.

Back at home, Jennifer ignored Anissa yelling at her for going to the club. She argued that if she had told the truth, no one would have let her go. Anissa told her that only 100 gang members hang out at that club. Jennifer said that all they want her to do is go to school, run track, and come home. Anissa asked why is that so bad, and Jennifer said she's not their father, Anissa or "Queen of Garfield High". Anissa said it's not about all of that, but it's about Jennifer trying to be grown. She called Anissa a bitch which angered her sister. Anissa asked her why she is acting like nothing ever happened. Growing frustrated, Jennifer told her to chill as she's stressed and asked Anissa to give her phone back. After brief begging, Jennifer got her phone back as Anissa turned on the tv to watch the news. On the news, Henderson talked about the incident with Black Lightning at Club 100; and Anissa told her that the things she experienced are not a joke.

The net day, Jennifer was about to enter the school until Will stopped her. He told her that saw her Instagram and found her. She told him that he was stalking her and to leave. When she turned to walk away, he tried to turn her back around by grabbing her. She yanked away and asked what was wrong with him. Will asked why she had to have so much attitude. Anissa intervened, and Jennifer watched as Anissa told Will to leave or she would call the police. When Anissa started to go inside to call the police, Will grabbed her arm only to end up getting flipped on the ground by Anissa. Jennifer, along with the rest of the students, was shocked at what happened. She was escorted inside as Jefferson handled Will. In their dad's office, Jennifer sat quietly as she listened to Jefferson and Anissa argue over what happened with Will in front of the school. After their argument ended and the school rang, Jennifer kissed her dad on the cheek and headed off to class.

In Anissa's class, Will and two other gang members barged into the classroom. Will shoved Anissa aside and pointed his gun in Jennifer's face. They forcibly took her and Anissa hostage to the Seahorse Motel. At the motel, she and Anissa were in a room with Lala, Will and other members. She and Anissa cried as they were being held hostage. They watched as Lala beat Will for kidnapping them as stirred up trouble. When they heard the commotion outside, Lala told Will to move the girls and to "handle" them. Will led them out the motel room at gunpoint just as Black Lightning arrived. After Black Lightning blasted Will, Jennifer and Anissa ran away from the scene. After the commotion ended, she and Anissa told the police about what had happened to them.

Later on, Inspector Henderson brought them home and they shared a hug with their parents. After they went inside the house, Jennifer and Anissa slept in the same room.

In LaWanda: The Book of Hope, she was on the phone facetiming with Khalil, and he told her about what was going on at Garfield. Khalil asked if he could come see her, but Jennifer told him to come the next day. As they ended their chat, Jennifer noticed Malik walking up her yard. Believing he was selling candy, Jennifer walked up to him and asked what was he was selling. Then, Malik pulled out a fake gun and shot her with paint which put Jennifer into a shock.

The next night, Jennifer was on the roof smoking marijuana when Khalil came out and sat next to her. They started to talk about her meeting Black Lightning, and she told him she couldn't really see his face as he hides with a light. Khalil started to talk about how he realized how much he liked her when she was kidnapped. He asked her to be his girlfriend and she happily said yes. Khalil gave her necklace and they kissed.

The next day, she was upstairs in the gym with Kiesha drinking alcohol. They joked about her kidnapping a little and continued to drink. Later, she went drunk into the workout room and found Khalil on the treadmill. She stumbled up next to him and greeted him. When he noticed that she was drinking, he snatched the bottle from her. After telling her about how he planned to leave Freeland with his skills running track, he sat next to her and told her wanted her to come; but not like the way she was behaving. She told him she didn’t see the world from the same perspective as he does. He comforted her and promised to be there for her.

In LaWanda: The Book of Burial, She was at LaWanda White's funeral. She asked Lynn about Anissa's whereabouts, but Lynn shushed her. As Reverend Holt was preaching about standing up to the 100, Jennifer nodded her head into agreement. She stood, along with others, to volunteer to march alongside the Reverend on Friday. Later on, Jennifer was on the roof with Khalil discussing their plans to have sex on that following Saturday. Khalil confessed that he was virgin which caused Jennifer to smile. She told him that she was also a virgin and they hugged each other.

The next night, she came down for dinner and took notice of Anissa not being there. She asked if family dinner was optional, but Jefferson told her that it wasn't. She responded that it sucked. When her parents wondered what she needed their support on, she told them that she was ready to have sex and walked out. At the dinner table, Lynn and Jefferson discussed how they want her to wait until she knows she loves someone dearly. Jennifer told them how she and Khalil were going to have sex the coming Saturday afternoon. She and her family continued to eat in silence. After dinner, Jennifer was in her room preparing for bed while telling Anissa about what happened. She told Anissa how she wanted her there, but she hadn’t been around a lot. Jennifer asked if Anissa was feeling okay, and Anissa said she was. Happy to hear that, Jennifer told Anissa she wanted her to come to the March with her. She was surprised when Anissa said she wasn't going, Anissa explained that she was tired of just protesting and wanted to do more (referring to using her powers). Jennifer told her to not think about it as protesting, but as spending time with her own sister. Hearing this, Anissa agreed to go to the March, and teased Jennifer about getting on birth control which caused her to laugh.

On Friday night, at the March, Jennifer was protesting along with Khalil, Lynn, and Anissa. She watched as Black Lightning shielded the crowd from bullets. Jennifer, along with the others, sung *Amazing Grace* until Syonide shot both Reverend Holt and Khalil. She held Khalil as laid on the ground fighting for his life. At the hospital, she was beside Khalil as he was being taken into surgery. She told him that he's going to be all right and was stopped from going with him into the operating room.

In Black Jesus, Jennifer was with Khalil at the hospital as he was undergoing physical therapy. When the nurses left the room, Jennifer and Khalil overheard them talking about Khalil never walking again. She went to the door and asked what was wrong with them, pointing out that Khalil could hear them. The nurses apologized, but Jennifer closed the door. She asked Khalil if he was ok. He told her he was ok and confident that he would walk again.

## Physical Appearance

Jennifer is a slender African American female, she has dark brown hair, and brown eyes. In school she wears the school uniform, but outside of school she dresses in a modern way.

## Personality

Jennifer is a strong, independent young woman with a bit of a rebellious streak, largely due to her rejection of the "Queen of Garfield" status at her school, as it only makes her a target. She enjoys typical teenage activities such as partying, romance and occasional smoking. When her powers emerged, she initially rejected them to the point where the possibility to the suppression of her meta gene made her elated at the thought of being "normal" again, but she came to eventually embrace their potential. According to her sister, she had a tendency to quit things when they became too tough to handle.

## Powers and Abilities

### Powers

* **Metahuman Physiology:** Jennifer inherited the meta gene from her father Jefferson Pierce and was able to develop her superhuman powers.
* **Electrokinesis:** Jennifer has the power to generate yellow-orange burning electric shocks and bursts from her hands, this power was first activated when her friend fell down a scaffolding and was nearly hurt, which caused her to fry her phone. When using her powers, the irises of her eyes glow the same yellow-orange color as her electric shocks. She was able to use her hands like defibrillators and revive Jefferson, she was also able the restore his powers by infusing him with power and jump starting his batteries, and send a lightning strike at an attacking agent. Unlike Jefferson, who absorbs electricity from other sources, Jennifer’s body acts as a generator, with her cells generating electricity. Despite this slight difference, her power capabilities are very similar to her father's. Thanks to Jennifer's very unique powers, she is one of the most powerful beings in the entire multiverse, despite not reaching her full potential as of yet and not being in full control.
	+ **Electrical absorption:** Similar to her father, Jefferson, Jen can absorb electricity from nearby electronics such as phones and light bulbs. Additionally she has also recently demonstrated an ability to absorb the electromagnetic energy that surrounds the Earth, as evidenced in Season 3 when she flew high enough in the sky to absorb the cosmic energy in the magnetosphere using the A.S.A's version of her suit. Absorbing this electrical energy from any source makes Jen more powerful and gives her more fuel to fight, just like her father. However, Jennifer can only absorb so much energy at a time before being forced to discharge it in some way, otherwise it causes her actual physical pain.
	+ **Electrical-technopathy:** Jennifer can use her powers to control the technology around her. She first used this power to break into a Pyxis and steal medication from a hospital storage closet in hopes of curing Khalil after he was poisoned by Giselle Cutter. Since then she has been seen using this aspect of her powers to gain access into the computer accounts of others, allowing her to bypass passwords and other identity-verification methods giving her essentially free reign over an electronic system; for example, she used this to "hack" into Brandon Marshall's computer, where she found he had surveillance photos of her mother Lynn thanks to his own mission to find and kill Dr. Jace. Jennifer's most impressive feat with this ability was when she combined her powers with that of Baron's technopathy by transforming herself into her energy form and traveling inside of Khalil's brain where the A.S.A's computer chip keeping him alive was placed and putting Khalil's "Painkiller" persona or program behind a firewall of electrical bolts in order to push him into a locked cell.
	+ **Electrical Transformation:** Due to Jennifer's cells generating electricity, she can transform her entire body into lightning. In season 3 it's shown to be shield-like too when she's being shot at by the A.S.A. several times only for the bullets to exit her body without doing any damage.
	+ **Electrical Blasts:** Jennifer is able to project bolts of energy from her hands, an ability she first used against an agent who nearly shot her mother.
	+ **Electrokinetic Constructs:** Jennifer has the ability to shape electricity into any shape she desires, she first displayed this when she made a rope-like construct and lifted Proctor into the air.
	+ **Electrical Sight:** Jennifer is able to see the electricity in all technological objects. Jennifer is also able to use this ability to see the electrical nervous system in ones body.
	+ **Electro-telekinesis:** Using her electricity, she can manipulate the matter of objects with electricity or electromagnetism. She can also use this ability to fly/levitate herself.
* **Flight:** Jennifer can generate an glowing electric field around her body that allows her to levitate by pushing her electrical power under her. This power was first shown to be an unconscious response to the increasing power inside her body, causing her to float several feet above her bed whilst she slept, but she has since learned how to consciously use it, as seen when she sat cross-legged several feet above the ground in an effort to pull her power back inside of herself. In Season 3, Jennifer is so in control of her powers that she could focus to the point that she can fly on command and endure doing so even into the higher reaches of the atmosphere.
* **Accelerated Healing Factor:** Jennifer's cells generate bio-electricity, which allows her to heal from injuries much faster and more efficiently than a normal person. The extends of this are shown when Jennifer gets choked by Painkiller who breached the firewall in Khalil's head to try and kill her by simultaneously poisoning and suffocating her. Once Khalil flees, Jennifer destroys the poisonous remains in her body with small doses of electricity in less than a minute without difficulty and with deep breaths gets her breathing back to normal.
* **Mental Projection:** Jennifer was able to unwittingly teleport herself to an unknown dimension which she referred to as her "safe place" during the Crisis on Infinite Earths, and helped her survive both her world's destruction by the Anti-Monitor and the destruction of the entire multiverse. When the multiverse was restored by the Paragons and Oliver Queen, she came to newly constructed Earth and reunited with her family retaining her original memories.
* **Photokinesis:** Jennifer can generate balls of light which vary in size as well as levels of brightness. These constructs were first shown to float in the air around her in a way that closely resembles fireflies during her moments of levitation during sleep. Jennifer has also demonstrated an intense offensive use of this power that involves creating large and powerful balls of light that can be thrown quite some distance away, exploding and temporarily blinding those exposed to it's light. When Khalil asked her what she was upon first learning and witnessing her powers, Jennifer simply replied, "I am light", in reference to the photokinetic aspect of her powers.

### Abilities

* **Peak human physical conditioning:** Jennifer possesses impressive athletic skills, as it has been mentioned that she is a stand out scholar athlete, just like her father, Jefferson. Jennifer is also as fast as lightning, and it has been mentioned several times that she is on the track team.
* **Expert Hand to Hand Combatant:** Jennifer was trained by her father to defend herself. She is capable to defend herself from two girls and even broke one of their wrists with ease in season 1. In season 3 she's brought into a fight against two high school boys which she also wins without exhausting herself and with ease.
* **Intelligence:** Despite her rebelliousness, Jennifer gets good grades in school. She is shown to be incredibly wise numerous times. This is mentioned several times by her family and Khalil.
* **Lip Reading:** Jennifer is able to read lips, due to Anissa's formal teachings.

## Weaknesses

* **Power instability:** Jennifer's main and biggest weakness is that her powers are unstable due to her being a natural generator of electricity. Jennifer's emotions fuel her power and if she can't keep them under control, she could risk going "nuclear" and exploding. They also start to hurt her if she does not periodically exercise excess energy.
* **Antimatter:** Because of Jennifer's cells being able to generate pure energy, she is more susceptible to the effects of antimatter, because of this, she unknowingly teleported herself to an unknown dimension which she referred to as her "safe space" to protect herself against the antimatter wave that later destroyed her universe and every other one.

## Relationships

* Jefferson Pierce/Black Lightning - Father
* Lynn Pierce - Mother
* Anissa Pierce/Thunder/Blackbird - Sister
* Peter Gambi - Surrogate Uncle

Allies* Kiesha - Best Friend
* Perenna
* The One Hundred - Kidnappers
	+ Lala †
	+ Will † - Attempted Killer
* Martin Proctor
* Khalil Payne - Former Love Interest

 new Love interest Lewis kent future husband

## Trivia

* In the comics, **Jennifer Pierce** was the youngest daughter of Black Lightning who possessed similar electric abilities as her father. She joined her sister Anissa Pierce under the alias **Lightning**.
* She was a stand out scholar athlete, just like her father, Jefferson.
* She was on the track team, but she quit the team in Black Jesus.
* She is called "The Queen of Garfield High", by her classmates, because her father, Jefferson, is the principal of the school.
* She has an Instagram account and is often seen on her phone.

## Gallery

* Promotional
* Screencaps

## References

1. ↑ *The Resurrection*
2. ↑ *LaWanda: The Book of Hope*
3. ↑ *LaWanda: The Book of Burial*
4. ↑ *Black Jesus*
5. ↑ Jennifer Pierce on DC Database