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Yz is the real name of Johnny Thunder's Thunderbolt, an invisible pink anthropomorphic, thunderbolt-shaped magic genie, who can do almost anything if it has a human guide to steer it.

Origin

In 1940, the young Johnny Thunder became its master by saying the magic words "Cei-U" (or "say you" - which is "Yz" backwards) and they had many wonderful adventures together during the 1940s. In the early years, the djinn remained invisible, and Johnny believed that all strange happenings around were a power of himself.[2]The almost incredibly innocent Johnny also didn't realize the connection between saying "Say You" and the weird tricks until later.

Pre-Crisis, Golden Age

Thunderbolt (Oswald Archibald Thunderbolt[3]) was married with another djinn named Mildred. The couple had a son named Shocko. They lived in a cloudhouse, complete with electrical furniture, at Cloud Villa, located in the troposphere. Many other djinns were living in this villa,[4] among them, his own family.[1]

Pre-Crisis, Bronze Age

Yz came from the Thunderbolt Dimension, a place with electrical-based lifeforms.[5]

Post-Crisis

Originally the Thunderbolt was believed to come from the Asian land of Badhnisia, but was recently revealed to be a djinn from the 5th Dimension. His first master was Saradin, who was controlling him during 73 years[6], centuries ago. According to Saradin himself, he did extremely terrible things in that time.

In recent years, Johnny Thunder has suffered from Alzheimer's, and other potential heroes have become the Thunderbolt's master, first Johnny's ward Kiku, and later the reluctant hero Jakeem "J.J." Thunder, who currently works with the JSA. (The Thunderbolt also seems to have transferred some powers to Johnny Thunder's biological son, William Twotrees a.k.a. Will Power.)

Currently, Yz resides in a magic pen and is called into action when Jakeem clicks it and says the words "so cool". For a while, the Thunderbolt was merged with his archenemy, the blue djinn known as Lkz, into a purple Thunderbolt. Now it seems like the pink Yz is on his own again, or if not, at least he is the dominant part. He also merged with Johnny Thunder's soul, and became Johnny Thunderbolt, with an Yz appearance but with Johnny's mind, and now the original master is the genie.

Powers

Weaknesses

  • Exact Command: Thunderbolt's abilities, thanks to his magical powers, are quite vast; however, he is limited by only being able to execute Jakeem's (or, originally, Johnny's) exactly worded order. Yz must always follow the orders to the letter; if the user speaks a slang when giving an order, he will interpret it literally.[2]
  • Vulnerability to Water: Because of his electrical nature, Yz is damaged when he is in contact with water.[8]
  • Vulnerability to be grounded: Vulnerability to be grounded: Due to his electrical nature, Yz is damaged by being grounded, for example, by touching a lightning rod.[9]
  • Power Limitation: Yz is ruled by strange djinn laws: For example, when he was with Johnny Thunder in Cuba, he refused any order from Johnny if not spoken in Spanish.[10] Killing seems to be taboo under these laws, and Yz can't fulfill orders to kill anyone.[8]


  • Although this character was originally introduced during DC's Earth-Two era of publication, their existence following the events of the 1985–86 limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths remains intact. However, some elements of the character's Pre-Crisis history may have been altered or removed for Post-Crisis New Earth continuity, and no longer apply.

Related

Footnotes

  1. 1.0 1.1 Flash Comics #78
  2. 2.0 2.1 All-Star Comics #3
  3. In Flash Comics #69, the Thunderbolt's wife, Mildred, calls him "Archibald". They call him "Archibald" and "Oswald" in other occasions. In Flash Comics #78, Thunderbolt's family call him "Oswald".
  4. Flash Comics #69
  5. Justice League of America #219
  6. JSA #79
  7. Flash Comics #1
  8. 8.0 8.1 Justice League of America #37
  9. Flash Comics #91
  10. All-Star Comics #9



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