Lightning Lord

Lightning Lord
Lightning Lord, as seen in Superman/Batman #17 (March 2005)
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Superman #147 (August 1961)
Created by	Jerry Siegel (writer) Curt Swan (artist) (based upon Lightning Lad by Otto Binder & Al Plastino)
In-story information
Alter ego	Mekt Ranzz
Species	Winathian
Place of origin	Winath
Team affiliations	Legion of Super-Villains Wanderers
Abilities	Electrical generation and direction

Lightning Lord is a fictional supervillain published by DC Comics. The older brother of Lightning Lad and Lightning Lass of the Legion of Super-Heroes, he first appeared in Superman #147 (August 1961), and was created by Jerry Siegel and Curt Swan.

Lightning Lord (real name Mekt Ranzz) is a founding member of the Legion of Super-Villains.

A single birth on a planet where twin births are the norm, Lightning Lord developed an anti-social personality in response to his circumstance of not having a twin sibling. When the spacecraft which he was travelling in along with his younger brother and sister (Legion of Super-Heroes members Lightning Lad and Lightning Lass) ran into electrical difficulties, the Ranzz siblings were forced to land their craft on the planetoid Korbal. In an attempt to lure the local lightning beasts to recharge their battery, they were charged with electrical energy themselves, giving them the power to generate lighting. Given his newfound ability, Lightning Lord decided to turn to a life of crime.

He has an adversarial but protective relationship with his siblings, and during any given encounter will usually attempt to get one of them (usually his sister) to join him in his life of crime. However, in a story set in the future, Mekt returns to Winath and reforms. This story also introduces Mekt's male lover (which is confirmed by the author of the story, Tom Bierbaum). This interpretation of the character does not carry into the later versions of Legion continuity.

Following the Zero Hour "Legion reboot", Lightning Lord was relatively unchanged, although he now hated his siblings and there was no Legion of Super-Villains. He was also directly responsible for Garth losing his arm and was defeated when his siblings combined their powers into one massive burst, seemingly shorting him out and removing his powers.