Jakeem Johnny Williams is a precocious teenager from Keystone City—home of Jay Garrick (the original Flash) and Wally West (one of Garrick's successors). Jakeem's mother left his father while she was still pregnant with the boy and later died of cancer. His aunt Lashawn was then granted custody and his father Phil, never knew (and still does not know) about his birth. Jakeem became a self-reliant latchkey kid who grew up on the streets and adopted a tough, foul-mouthed attitude to survive.
When Johnny Thunder lost control over his "genie" Thunderbolt due to his declining mental health, he put the genie inside an ink pen, which Jay later gave to Jakeem.[2] He discovers the genie's powers while helping the Justice League and Justice Society fight the evil blue genie Lkz.[3]
During the battle with Grundy, the Ultra-Humanite takes over Johnny Thunder's body to command the Thunderbolt's powers.[7] After Johnny is killed, Jakeem's genie fuses with him to save his life, creating a new being with the memories of both who is known as Johnny Thunderbolt.[8] With Johnny's help, Jakeem meets his biological father Phil, who is now an engineering student.[9]
During the "Infinite Crisis" storyline, the Spectre transports Jakeem to the Fifth Dimension, where he is controlled by Qwsp and becomes a mad tyrant before the Justice Society free him.[10][11][12][13]
Return
Following the events of Flashpoint, Jakeem and the Justice Society are not present in the rebooted The New 52 timeline, with the Justice League instead taking over as the world's first publicly-known superhero team.[14][15][16][17][18][19] This is later revealed to be the result of Doctor Manhattan erasing them from history, with Superman eventually convincing him to restore them.[20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27]
Powers and abilities
Jakeem has the ability to summon and control a fifth-dimensional genie in the form of "Johnny Thunderbolt". The genie can fulfill any wish made by Jakeem, though he occasionally follows Jakeem's wishes too literally. The Thunderbolt's abilities have become limited due to certain limitations according to the new rules of the Tenth Age of Magic.[28][29]
^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. 309. ISBN978-1-4654-5357-0.
^Cowsill, Alan; Irvine, Alex; Manning, Matthew K.; McAvennie, Michael; Wallace, Daniel (2019). DC Comics Year By Year: A Visual Chronicle. DK Publishing. p. 272. ISBN978-1-4654-8578-6.
