History
Two young men calling themselves Thunder and Lightning were causing major disturbances in St. Louis with their super-powers. The Titans were summoned to deal with this menace. After a short battle, the Teen Titans learned the two brothers – Gan and Tavis Williams – were searching for their father, Second Lt. Walter Williams. Thunder and Lightning revealed that they are the offspring of American soldier Walter Williams and a Vietnamese mother. As children, they began to manifest strange abilities, controlling thunder and lightning. A wise China man named Chan To urged the brothers to seek out their father – he sensed that was the key to harnessing their sometimes-uncontrollable powers.
Wonder Girl discovered that their father had been missing for almost 20 years, following a laboratory accident. The brothers decided to settle at S.T.A.R. Labs, where, hopefully, they could learn to control their powers more efficiently.
A few months later, the Titans and S.T.A.R. Labs tried fruitlessly to find a cure for Thunder and Lightning’s powers. At this time, Raven used her soul self to learn more about their missing father through Gan and Tavis’ subconscious. Raven unlocked the secrets of their origins: The man who called himself Walter Williams was actually an extraterrestrial; his ship crashed in Vietnam 600 years ago; He returned to the crash site under the guise of Walter Williams to retrieve his spaceship. There, he met and fell in love with the Vietnamese woman who would be Thunder and Lightning’s mother. Now, with Raven’s help, the Titans and Thunder and Lightning were able to locate the alien father, who was being held prisoner by the H.I.V.E. The H.I.V.E. had been holding the alien prisoner for years, exploiting his knowledge and abilities for their own purposes. Under the H.I.V.E.’s control, the alien attacked the Titans and his sons. The battle ended tragically: Thunder and Lightning were forced to kill their own father.
S.T.A.R. Labs
With their father’s blood sample, however, S.T.A.R. Labs was able to cure Thunder and Lightning, allowing them to control their abilities at last. After this, the brothers returned to their motherland. Sometime after this, the brothers returned to S.T.A.R. Labs, still searching for ways to rein in their powers.
The brothers eventually relocated to the S.T.A.R. Lab located in San Francisco. As Gan and Tavis learned to master their abilities, they also provided security for S.T.A.R. Labs.
Trigon Seeds
While stopping a robbery, Thunder and Lightning came into conflict with Raven, whose dark soul had been reborn in the image of her father. Raven was trying to plant the demon seeds of Trigon’s unborn children into suitable host bodies. Raven sought out Thunder and Lightning and used their bodies as hosts for these seeds of Trigon.
Technis Imperative
It appears as though Thunder and Lightning were able to free themselves as well. They have since appeared to aid the Titans during their encounter with the Justice League, who were trying to stop former Titans member Cyborg (formerly Cyborg, then transformed into Cyberion)
Freed from the evil influence of the seeds of Trigon, the super-powered Thunder and Lightning have returned to their home country in Southern Vietnam, reportedly to defend it from an unknown alien threat
Salvation Run
Lightning was sent to planet Salvation. While trying to help Martian Manhunter, he was captured by Bane. Lex Luthor used Lightning to power the teleporter to send the villains home. Lightning was presumably killed when the teleporter exploded.Â
Powers & Abilities
Lightning is able to release bolts of electricity and harness lightning. He also shares a psychic link with his brother, thanks to it they are able to communicate telepathically with each other.Â
Other Media
Lightning appeared with Thunder on the Teen Titans animated television series. In the show they are seemingly supernatural brothers who just want to have fun, but they make life miserable for everyone else with their disregard for the safety of others. 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, disguised as the “Ancient 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 and Ligthning is seen attacking many villains with a giant thunder explosion. (the explosion also has some yellow lightnings on the side.)