Shock and Awe



""There's nothin' like a fistfulla' lightnin', now is there?""

- Atlas, Bioshock

The use of lightning, huge electrical discharges, and stuff resembling them as a weapon to fry things with. This is one of the most common Elemental Powers and is part of the basic Fire, Ice, Lightning trio. It's also one of the handiest ones around, being used for pretty much anything and everything that the writers can think of.

When shooting lightning, it tends to be treated as a sort of beam you can aim and shoot anywhere. This doesn't make a whole lot of sense -- lightning is just a really big static charge, like you get all the time when you're wearing sweaters. Static electricity will leap from something with high potential to something with low potential; the only way to aim it should be to modify the potential of both yourself and the target, in which case, it would be pretty much impossible to dodge. All this is pretty much always ignored.

Wielders of this power set have an odd tendency to be insane and have blond hair.

Related to Blinded by the Light and Ride the Lightning. Someone with this power may also be a Technopath. Contrast An Ice Person and Playing with Fire. For other uses of lightning and electricity, see Magical Defibrillator and Electric Torture. For the physics (or lack thereof) behind electrical attacks or weapons, see Chain Lightning, Lightning Gun, and Static Stun Gun.

Has nothing to do with the United States military rapid dominance doctrine, though that is where the name came from.

Media in General

 * Any weapon with "Tesla" in its name.
 * A lot of weapons with a name involving "bolt".
 * Lightning is also the stereotypical attack of a god. A typical quote would run "if you're a god, why don't you zap him with lightning or something?" You can probably blame Zeus for this one.

Anime & Manga

 * Hibari and Hibiki in Sekirei use this as their standard attack, and their Ashikabi Handsome Lech Seo can power them up to deal massive damage by making out with them!
 * In Bastard!!, Arshes Nei is called the Thunder Empress for obvious reasons.
 * Pikachu, use Thundershock/Thunderbolt/Volt Tackle!
 * Dawn has a Pachirisu. And Iris has an Emolga.
 * Electric Pokémon in general do at least one type of big Electric attack. On some rare occasions in the past, Pikachu has used thunderclouds to enhance the attack, including the episode where he used Thunder for the first time.
 * Fate Testarossa-Harlaown of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha. Her squad is called "Lightning" for a reason. Other Lightning mages include her adopted kid, Erio, and her psychotic and abusive mother, Precia.
 * In fact, some fluff contains the term "Mana Conversion Affinity", an ability to spontaneously convert one's mana into a specific form of energy without the use of spells, etc.. Fate and Erio have Lightning (that is, electricity) affinity, whereas Signum is attuned to fire.
 * Guess that means Nanoha has the power of Heart.
 * Gash of Gash Bell.
 * It's no coincidence that Gash Bell's creator, Makoto Raiku, actually has the kanji for thunder in his name.
 * Did you also know that Gash's seiyuu is famous for also being the voice of Pikachu?
 * Zeon also has lightning powers and the same seiyuu as Raichu.
 * "God" Eneru of One Piece. He's more than a little crazy. Unlike most examples, who can simply control lightning, he's made of lightning itself. And in the One Piece world, not even the strongest characters, like Zoro or Sanji, can take more than two lightning bolts at a time (one in Sanji's case) or even touch him, so he has Nigh Invulnerability; except to rubber.
 * Nami also frequently uses her weather manipulating staff to create lightning.
 * "Thunder Lord" Makugai is able to channel Lightning through his sword, somehow.
 * Nue and Black Burn in Air Gear.
 * Dai no Daibouken has "raiden", which is a lightning attack.
 * Ginji Amano of GetBackers.
 * The stand Red Hot Chilli Peppers from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure could manipulate electricity as well as hide and travel through any electrical devices.
 * Negi Springfield of Mahou Sensei Negima uses this as one of his elements. Setsuna wields this as one of her Shinmeiryuu elements.
 * Negi takes it up to the next level when he begins using Black Magic; he turns himself into lightning.
 * The Lightning Oni from the Oni mission of the Gantz Manga is the royal type.
 * Sailor Jupiter of Sailor Moon. Given that Jupiter is the Roman name for Zeus, it's rather fitting.
 * Hikaru Shidou in Magic Knight Rayearth, despite being called the Magic Knight of Fire, actually has one lightning spell: Ruby Lightning. The spell "Lightning Strike" is also one basic spell used by most people of Cephiro that can use magic. Especially Lantis.
 * Raiha of Flame of Recca uses the lightning counterpart of Fuujin, Raijin. It's powerful, but the usage is nastier than you think, and Raiha mostly uses his Badass Normal strength in general anyway.
 * Naruto: Sasuke Uchiha, Kakashi Hatake, and a number of other characters including Raiga and several ninja in the Ninja Guardians Arc.
 * Kumogakure, the capital of the Land of Lightning, where they practice Lightning-style jutsu. Some of the most powerful ninja in the world hail from there.
 * Yaiba has Raijin, the God of Thunder. The protagonist learn to use this power, albeit sometimes, he gets possessed by Raijin and becomes a Lightning-tossing Oni.
 * The Thunder Card of Cardcaptor Sakura.
 * Suzaku, the leader of the Saint Beasts in Yu Yu Hakusho.
 * Hei (a.k.a. Chinese Electric Batman), in Darker Than Black. Hei can't shoot lightning, he can merely give off electric discharges, meaning he has to conduct the electricity to the enemy. Enter the metallic choke-wire.
 * Hei's abilities have been stated to be the manipulation of molecular and sub-atomic particles. Generating electricity is just a by-product of that (presumably by manipulating electron flow). He seems able to do this only through touch. He could probably generate lightning bolts but creating electricity through air molecules is actually quite complicated. They probably didn't delve into his other abilities because they are even more complicated.
 * To Aru Majutsu no Index: Misaka "Railgun" Mikoto, a Level 5 esper, can generate and manipulate electricity in very inventive and intimidating ways.
 * She gets her nickname from her signature attack where she accelerates a ferromagnetic object to Mach 3, with range limited by the projectile tending to dissolve from air friction. She can launch bigger objects but prefers arcade coins for their portability and concealability, at the expense of having a "short" range of 50 meters.
 * She can also throw blasts of electricity and call down lightning in a very Kill Sat-esque manner.
 * She has also been shown to use her power to manipulate magnetic fields, giving her pseudo-telekinetics that go as far as throwing a block of reinforced concrete by manipulating the steel bars inside of it, magnetically attaching herself to walls, and using electricity to align her brain with someone else's, allowing her to see that person's memories.
 * At several points in the To Aru Kagaku no Railgun spinoff, she even uses her powers to materialize a Whip Chainsaw out of nearby iron dust. Yeah.
 * She can also float over water by doing electrolysis on the water and spark-igniting the hydrogen products of the reaction as propulsion. Her rival, Mugino "Meltdowner" Shizuri, has a similar ability based on converting electrons into what is for all intents and purposes antimatter.
 * RaiRyu from GaoGaiGar. Naturally, GekiRyuJin and GenRyuJin, which RaiRyu helps form, also have access to his abilities.
 * Killua from Hunter X Hunter uses mostly lightning or lighting-related abilities.
 * Laxus from Fairy Tail.
 * Asura-mode Rouge from Ranma Half can already shoot fireballs, breathe fire, create tornados, and combine them into flaming tornados. But when empowered by a shoulder massage, the pain of having six arms goes away and she starts tossing bolts of lightning at Pantyhose Tarou, culminating in a gigantic sphere of electricity that all but fries the flying minotaur.
 * By the same author, all of the Oni of Urusei Yatsura can fly and have at least one other power. Chick Magnet and Big Eater Rei can transform into a giant ushiotora ("bulltiger", and it's Exactly What It Says on the Tin). Jariten can breath fire. Meanwhile, Lum and her mom can generate electricity, both shocking whoever they touch and launching lightning bolts from their fingers. Lum routinely uses this to punish Ataru Moroboshi for angering her, but she can't entirely control it, resulting in the obvious implication that Ataru's hesitance to get near her is partially due to her tendency to shock him accidentally when she hugs him or tries to sleep in his bed.
 * The titular heroines of Futari wa Pretty Cure.
 * Cure Peace in Smile Pretty Cure.
 * Lightning is used in a different way in ~Fight Ippatsu! Juuden-chan!!~ Rather than hurting people, it's used mostly to help people cheer up when they're depressed.
 * Harvar D. Eclair from Soul Eater is a lance Weapon with lightning powers. His meister, Ox Ford, likes to be known as the Lightning General King for his prowess in using lightning when wielding Harvar, though it helps if they're outdoors. Harvar's an odd example personality-wise in that he's The Stoic.
 * Marie Mjolnir's "Izuna" ability uses electricity to heighten the reflexes of her meister; it allowed Stein to attack without breaking a sweat.
 * The third Weapon to have lightning-related abilities is the 'shaman' Pot of Thunder, one of Kirikou's two Weapons.
 * Great Mazinger has the "Thunder Break" attack, which causes a lighting storm in sky, channels lighting from said storm into receptors on robot's neck, and is then redirected out of a pointed index finger.
 * Morimura Tenma of Harukanaru Toki no Naka de (and his "successors" from later games in the franchise) has lightning-based powers.
 * Levi A Than, one of the Varia in Katekyo Hitman Reborn, always carries eight umbrellas with him. They shoot lightning. Appropriately enough, this attack is called Levi Volta.
 * Also, Lambo (well, his 10 years older self) and, more generally, any Thunder Flame user fit this trope.
 * Anyone with Lightning Attribute Flames qualifies.
 * Wizardmon from Digimon Adventure
 * ELECTRO SHOCKER!
 * THUNDER FIST!
 * Let's just say "the majority of Digimon who are based on some variety of beetle". (And Mega Seadramon. "Lightning JAVELIN!")
 * Judging from the attack's effects, the Buster Collider from Gunbuster seems to be electricity-based.
 * And then there's the Super Inazuma Kick...
 * Main character Gangryong and his presumed dead mentor Lightning Tiger in the Manhwa Veritas practice the Enlightenment Of Thunder and Lightning (EOTL) school of martial arts which manifests its users' ki as electricity. In the hands of a master, it's a bit of a Game Breaker since the electricity can disrupt the ki flow of anyone it hits. Lightning Tiger took it up a notch by reverse engineering  on the spot and combining it with EOTL to call down a bolt of lightning from the sky.
 * Gundam has a few instances of electrified whip/wire weapons, including Gouf series of MS (seen in the original series, Mobile Suit Gundam The 08th MS Team, and Gundam SEED Destiny)' Heat Rod, Zeta's Hambrabi and its Sea Serpent, many Zanscare MS' Beam Strings, and several 00 machines' Egner Whips. Though it shares a name with the Gouf's weapon, Epyon's Heat Rod doesn't qualify since it's a superheated Whip Sword that has no electrical component.
 * Urd in Ah! My Goddess does this. She can also use fire.
 * Emperor Ganishka from Berserk.
 * In the original manga and OVA of Birdy the Mighty, the titular character is able to grab people and electrocute them; this is how she fatal wounds Tsutomu in those incarnations.
 * Sage/Seiji Date from Ronin Warriors (Yoroiden Samurai Troopers)' elemental power is lightning, which he invokes with his Thunder Bolt Cut (Rai Kou Zan). Cale (Anubis) also has this power with black lightning.
 * From Rosario to Vampire, there is Raika, leader of Fairy Tale's fifth subdivision. Unfortunately for him, his opponent was Ruby.
 * Pandora in Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas.
 * In the Tokko manga, Mayu can shoot electricity from her hands.
 * Ulquiorra Cifer from Bleach uses Lanza del Relampago..."Lance of the Lightning"

Card Games

 * Many Red direct damage spells in  ~Magic: The Gathering~ , starting with the classic Lightning Bolt.
 * Yu-Gi-Oh gives us Summoned Skull, Hamon - Lord of Striking Thunder, the Raigeki spell, and a few Thunder-type monsters such as the Watts and Batterymen.

Comicbooks

 * One of the principal nasty things Storm of the X-Men does to enemies. Know what happens to a toad when it gets struck by lightning...?
 * Magneto can also control electricity to some degree (he almost killed Kitty Pryde with an electric shock in UXM #150), though some writers tend to forget that magnetism is good for more than just chucking metal around; electromagnetism is one of the four fundamental forces of the universe, after all.
 * FORSOOTH! When the lightning falleth, the Son of Odin be-eth in the familial dwelling!!
 * Various characters from The DCU:
 * Black Lightning (and his Superfriends Expy, Black Vulcan...and Black Vulcan's Justice League Expy, Juice).
 * Weather Wizard, as a part of his shtick.
 * Captain Marvel and his family can do this by dodging their transformation lightning bolt. Captain Marvel tends to use his magical lightning as an anti-Superman weapon.
 * There's also Static, but he's not technically DC (he's from Milestone). Well, except now, the Milestone characters are being integrated into the DCU, so...
 * Static's powers are identical to Marvel's Magneto, except that Static is more likely to overtly include electricity in the visual effect of his powers.
 * Livewire, a Dini-verse creation that made her way to DC canon.
 * Lightning Lad of The Legion of Super Heroes, as well as Lightning Lass, their Psycho Electro brother Lightning Lord, and Storm Boy. Lightning Lass and Lightning Lad get a free pass from the "no two members with the same powers" rule, for some reason, even though it was the very rule invoked to keep Storm Boy from joining. So when Lightning Lass joined, her powers had been deliberately downgraded so that all she could do was nullify gravity on objects. They just failed to kick her out when she regained her lightning. By then, Lightning Lad was also dead. Once he got better, she arranged to get the Light Lass powers. And then, yes, she got her lightning back, and they didn't do anything about it. Storm Boy actually had a wide variety of weather-based abilities; he didn't get in because he was using a concealed Weather Control Machine, rather than intrinsic powers.
 * Electro from Spider-Man's Rogues Gallery.
 * Not, however, Shocker, who attacks with shock waves. Nobody told the guys who made Arcade's Revenge.
 * Wildguard: Casting Call had a few electric superheroes trying out, among them Dr. Wattage, who isn't an actual doctor but plays one on TV, and Conductra, who can generate 1.21 Gigawatts and used to be the sidekick of her father, who had the same powers.
 * Maxie Zeus in some of the Batman continuities.
 * Jolt from Thunderbolts. She generated bio-electricity, which she could channel into energy blasts, super strength, and super speed.
 * Guns that shoot bolts of electricity are the signature weapons of Atomic Robo and other Tesladyne Action Scientists. Justified, since Robo was created by none other than Nikola Tesla.
 * Steeplejack of The Surrogates can channel lightning through his suit.
 * Spider Woman's venom blasts are biolectrical in nature. They're not very potent as lightning powers go and are usually treated more or less like a taser.
 * There's The Hulk villain Zzazz and his Distaff Counterpart Axon.
 * Electric Ray from Amazing Man can emit lethal electrical charges.
 * Lash Lightning, who was featured in Sure-Fire Comics and Lighting Comics, has the ability to generate electricity.
 * Dynamo, who was featured in Science Comics and Weird Comics, can control electricity and shoot electrical bolts.
 * Electro Man, from Rocket Comics, can fire electrical blasts and turn into electricity to travel through wires.
 * Lightning, from Jumbo Comics, can shoot electricity from his fingers.
 * Firebrand, from Yankee Comics, can produce destructive electrical blasts and create an energy field to protect himself.
 * Striker from Avengers Academy has the basic set.
 * 9-Jack-9, the assassin villain from Zot

Films -- Live-Action

 * Force Lightning from Star Wars, which is considered one of the more powerful abilities of The Dark Side, though you don't necessarily have to be evil to use it.
 * One of R2-D2's gadgets is an arc welder. A particularly hilarious scene involves a droid KO'ing R2 after getting shocked.
 * One of the spirit-demon guys from Big Trouble in Little China (creatively named "Lightning") used lightning as a weapon.
 * The primary streamthrowers in Ghostbusters. They can toilet paper, explode maid's carts, and will cause The End of the World as We Know It if you cross the streams. Oh yeah, and you can snare ghosts with it.
 * Though, to be fair, those are proton streams rather than the electron streams they'd need to be to classify as lightning.
 * The lightning guns used by Zion's forces throughout The Matrix trilogy.
 * In South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, after Cartman's V-chip gets zapped, he eventually discovers that swearing now lets him generate electricity without causing self-trauma. He uses this against Saddam in Sith/Dragon Ball style.
 * Bayverse Jolt has electric whips.
 * Godzilla has been known to electrify and/or magnetize his body on occasion.
 * In King Kong vs Godzilla, Kong has this, albeit only by touch.
 * King Ghidorah spits gravity beams from his mouths, but with the exception of Keizer Ghidorah the beams look and act like lightning bolts.
 * The Amazing Spider Man 2 has Electro who is the Trope Namer for Psycho Electro in the comics.

Literature

 * The first book of The Dresden Files has an evil sorcerer fueling his evil spells with massive lightning strikes. However, the main spell he used it for ripped people's hearts out, the lightning was used only to provide power.
 * Elaine appears to favor electricity for combat, using both lightning strikes and a magical electrocuting chain.
 * While Harry favours fire and force, he has a neat line in air magic (of which lightning is a part), and occasionally uses it, if only to surprise opponents who generally expect him to try and Kill It with Fire.
 * Joanna of The Weather Wardens series can use lightning as a weapon, and so can any other weather mage with the proper air/water elemental specialty.
 * Lightning bolts are a favorite tool of Discworld's gods, though Blind Io has a monopoly on thunder.
 * Channelers in The Wheel of Time can summon lightning from an open sky, given proper skill in weather manipulation.
 * War Wizards in the Sword of Truth series.
 * Kilowatt, of the Seekers of Truth. Explained in-universe as the ability to manipulate electric charges, but for some reason, she still likes to just shoot lightning from her hands.
 * Princess Elektra of Xanth. Though her powers are much weaker than most of those listed here. She can only use her powers at a lethal level once a day, for instance.
 * At the end of Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light, it's stated that the hero received that title "either because he could wield lightnings or because he refrained from doing so." He was also capable of preventing electronic devices from working, just by willing it. Convenient, when your enemy wants to shoot you with a blaster.
 * Thalia of Percy Jackson and The Olympians is the daughter of Zeus, and though she disappoints by being acrophobic, she can really bring on the voltage.
 * In the sequel series The Heroes of Olympus, Jason, being the son of Jupiter, has the same abilities.
 * In The Thrawn Trilogy, Joruus C'baoth likes using Force Lightning. He's crazy, all right
 * The main way of attacking for a witch or sorcerer in the Women of the Otherworld series and its spinoff Darkest Powers seems to be through throwing lightning bolts. These apparently range from lethal to non-lethal, with the damage depending on just how much OOMPH the user puts into the spell.
 * The Guardians each have a Gift related to their life.  Gift is electricity, and   referred to as the human Taser.
 * In the Codex Alera, windcrafters cannot generate lightning by themselves. However, if a group of them are in a thunderstorm, they can, via group effort, gather the lightning generated by the storm and direct it at a target on the ground. In addition, a windcrafter who is also capable with watercraft can generate a sort of defibrillator via electrical generation while a patient is submerged in a healing tub.
 * In Adrian Tchaikovsky's Shadows of the Apt series, Wasp-kinden are able to shoot blasts of bioelectric energy from their hands.
 * Cracklers/Edisons from the Grimnoir books are superhumans with electrical powers.
 * Tris from The Circle Universe. Though she can wield other abilities, her chief attribute seems to be lightning, as she has been referred to as a lightning mage.
 * Michael Vey.
 * In Shadow Ops, generating lightning and controlling electrical storms is a subset of Aeromancy.

Live Action TV

 * One of the monsters of the week in The X-Files was a teenager who called down lightning and controled electricity in general.
 * Elle Bishop in Heroes.
 * Sylar, too. And not even the usual way, originally. He still kills her eventually, though, and destroys the body with her own power.
 * In Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Willow's offensive combat magic of choice is bursts of dark-energy lightning.
 * Gwen Raiden in Angel.
 * WWE: The Undertaker. Mainly used for intimidation while setting up for the character's return, however.
 * Johnny B of the cult classic Misfits of Science. The ability to throw lightning and move at Flash-like speeds somewhat makes up for the fact that a drop of water will burn him like acid. How he doesn't die of dehydration was never addressed.
 * Brennan Mulwray in Mutant X.
 * The Spellbinders' power suits in Spellbinder can generate powerful blasts of electricity - provided they don't get wet. A significantly upgraded version was also capable of flying by means of repelling the Earth's magnetic field.
 * No love for Tesla himself of Sanctuary. Can't shoot bolts himself, but invariably causes a lot of damage with lightning. Some of the other characters even call him insane, though justifiably a genius.
 * The Master in The End of Time. Made unpleasantly realistic by his need to recharge.
 * The Silence also attack their enemies with electricity.
 * Kamen Riders Blade and Kiva (in Dogga Form) make use of lightning for their Finishing Moves. Zanki, Todoroki, and most stringed instrument-type Oni also use lightning as their element.
 * Uva can shoot lightning. This power is passed down to his Kuwagata Medal.
 * Kamen Rider Stronger was powered by electricity. His Hour of Power Super Mode allowed him to discharge more electricity than usual (and he had to; otherwise, he'd explode).
 * As well as Fourze in Elek States
 * Carla Burnelle from Flanders Company has her powers based on electricity. She's quite good with it.
 * In Alphas, this is the Red Flag operative Kosar's power. He can't shoot lightning bolts, but he can create localized brownouts and electrocute things by touching them, or if they're connected by a conductor.

Mythology

 * Older Than Feudalism: Zeus of Greek Mythology is frequently portrayed as flinging thunderbolts.
 * Likewise, Thor, God of Thunder, from Norse Mythology.
 * Indra, the king of the Hindu gods (according to the earliest text, anways), is the god of thunder and lighting. Also, many "ruler of the gods" are associated with Thunder or the Sun.
 * Raiden of Shinto Mythology.

Tabletop Games

 * Mortasheen has Abcoulix, an enormous brain toad created as an organic electrical generator, which can attack by frying people from a distance with an electrical bolt or trying to grapple with them to fry them like an electric chair.
 * Various Warhammer 40000 examples:
 * Psychic powers: Eldritch Storm, Bolt of Change.
 * Ranged weapons: Zzzap gunz, all gauss-flayer weapons ever.
 * Hand weapons: Power weapons, (Necron) disruption fields, and especially lightning claws.
 * Storm of the Emperor's Wrath, the basic Librarian power.
 * Strictly speaking, those weapons don't use lightning; they just generate lots of pretty sparks while introducing a distortion field or pure evil into the target. The gauss guns don't even do that: they electromagnetically suck atoms (in massive numbers, obviously) off the target without lightning or anything that looks like it being involved...though green lighting tends to hang around some other necron machinery.
 * One variety of Tech-Priest known as Electro-priests have this as their entire shtick.
 * The spell "Incantation of Lightning" in the Tabletop RPG Ars Magica.
 * The blue dragons in Dungeons & Dragons which shoot lightning, rather than fire, from their mouths.
 * And many wizards, particularly evokers or war wizards, have blasted at least one poor bastard with lightning at one point in their career. Not that this is guaranteed to do enough damage to kill, though it is possible some mages use it for Cherry Tapping.
 * Some clerics and druids too. "Call Lightning", anyone?
 * Promethean: The Created has a whole category of Transmutations called Electrification, which allows the character to manipulate electrical equipment and shoot lightning from their hands. Appropriately, the category falls into the Refinement of Tin, which focuses on spite and revenge -- just the category where you'd put the Wrath of God.
 * Mage: The Awakening has a few Forces Rotes that allow the mage to redirect electricity and throw lightning.
 * One of the more powerful Gifts in Werewolf: The Forsaken causes a lightning bolt to to strike the werewolf's enemies.
 * In Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu Tabletop RPG, members of the Great Race sometimes have Lightning Guns.
 * In Nomine has the Generator Attunement given out by Jean, the Archangel of Lightning. It allows the user to, well...generate lots of electricity and fry things with it.
 * Rifts features a Psychic Character Class called the Zapper, who can shoot mega-damage blasts of electricity and use other electric powers.
 * Lightning Bolt is the oldest non-variable direct damage card in Magic: The Gathering and probably the best for tournament play in formats where it's allowed.
 * Summoner Wars: Quen of the Mountain Vargath, the militant Ram-men of Itharia, shoot lightning bolts that sometimes DO strike the same spot twice.

Toys

 * Zoids has Liger Zero X and Dark Spiner. Liger Zero X has electrified blades that shoot lightning while Dark Spiner fires a burst of electricity that causes other mecha to go into Unstoppable Rages.
 * Lightning is one of the secondary elements featured in Bionicle. Users of the element include several Toa of Lightning, Tahnok-Kal, and a few Rahkshi species.

Video Games

 * Killzone 2 gives us the VC5 Arc Rifle, a modified welding tool that shoots giant arcs of lightning at things. It can only be found in the single player campaign, during a single level. It requires no ammunition and, instead, draws charge from the surrounding air via a special ore.
 * Arguably the most awesome Brush God of the Okami series, Gekigami is a celestial tiger who fires arrows with a back-mounted bow and his tail.
 * Borderlands has a wide variety of elemental weapons with electric shock mods. Also, certain class mods can add bonus shock damage to shock elemental weapons. Also, exploding blue barrels, blue creatures, and shock grenade mods.
 * Raidy in Lightning Warrior Raidy has this as her signature attack.
 * Metal Gear Solid 3 Snake Eater has General Volgin, who can generate static electricity through his body and channels it through held rounds of ammunition. He can also launch said ammunition like a rail gun.
 * Metal Gear Solid 2 Sons of Liberty features Fortune, who has a rail gun that shoots arcs of lightning.
 * The Jupiter class of adepts in Golden Sun use meteorological phenomenon such as lightning to attack, and indeed, lightning is some of their most powerful attacks. Jupiter lighthouse also features lightning puzzles.
 * Ratchet and Clank has the Tesla Claw in the first and second games, the Tesla Barrier and Plasma Coil in the second and third, the Spitting Hydra in the third, and shock mods from the second game on.
 * Both PlayStation 3 entries feature the Lightning Ravager/Shockwave Ravager, a lightning whip!
 * The Final Fantasy games tend to have a lightning attack as a spell.
 * Final Fantasy Tactics had the Blast Gun, a member of a trio of strangely named elemental-magic guns (the others were the Blaze Gun and Glacier Gun, which did exactly the opposite of what you would expect).
 * In the Final Fantasy games, lightning also tends to be the most powerful element and arguably the most popular one. An example would be the Blast Gun, the most powerful one of the three, and the Thunder Spell in Final Fantasy XI. Byakko's Haidate (the most powerful leg piece in the game) is lightning-aligned and gives a healthy chunk of resistance against electric attacks.
 * Also, there's the summon Ramuh.
 * As well as Ixion. Apparently, one Thunder summon wasn't quite enough.
 * And Quezacotl, and Adramellech, and one incarnation of Odin. Ramuh's the one member of the Power Trio of summons most likely to be replaced.
 * Final Fantasy II's guest party member Leila starts out with a Thunder spell, which is more than most of your other guest party members, barring Minwu. The first time you fight the Big Bad, The Emperor, he will use Thunder spells almost to the point of exclusivity.
 * As you might expect from her nickname, Lightning uses the Thunder series of spells a little bit more than the others - she starts with Thunder, learns Thundaga, and has Odin (who is Lightning-based in that game) as her Eidolon.
 * Raijin, a Recurring Boss in Final Fantasy VIII, named after the Japanese God of Thunder. Appropriately, he's partnered with Fujin (God of Wind).
 * Reno and his electromagnetic rod in Final Fantasy VII
 * Treasure of the Rudra had this, which had a side effect of confusion if a certain Lightning Mantra was used.
 * In Sonic Heroes, all 'Fly' type characters had the electric 'Thunder shoot' ability.
 * Including Tails, who has been stated to have a Fear of Thunder in the past...
 * The various Lighting Wave Cannons in R-Type count, and oddly, the series includes a Tesla weapon, Hyper Tesla Pile Bunker, which doesn't produce lightning.
 * Quake had the Thunderbolt. It could not could not be used underwater without killing yourself and everyone around you.
 * In the Destroy All Humans!! games, Crypto's basic sidearm is a Lightning Gun that doesn't need ammunition.
 * Samus's Wave Beam combo in Metroid Prime.
 * Soviet Tesla Coils in Command and Conquer Red Alert.
 * Add-on pack Red Alert: Aftermath adds Tesla Tanks and Shock Troopers, who respond to you in Arnie-style zingers, including "Shocking! Hahaha!"
 * Tesla technology proved so popular with fans that the sequel Red Alert 2 used it a lot, including newer versions of the above and Tesla Bombs for the Kirov Airship. In one mission, the Soviets even turn the Eiffel Tower into a supersized Tesla Coil and lay waste to Paris in order to terrorize the European allies.
 * Command and Conquer Red Alert 3 has taken this to its logical conclusion by having Tesla everything. That's Tesla Troopers, Tesla Tanks, Stingrays...even the Japanese have a Tesla Mecha...a really huge one at that. The terror drone now has a Tesla secondary fire for disabling vehicles while the Tesla Troopers got an upgrade, switching their Tesla cannons into EMP mode and disabling nearby vehicles.
 * The Tesla guns from Return to Castle Wolfenstein.
 * Unreal Tournament 2003 and Unreal Tournament 2004 have a more powerful version of the sniper rifle--the Lightning Gun. Despite the name, it's a fictional version of the Electrolaser. In exchange for being more powerful, it gives away your position.
 * It also, if you land a headshot, sets the victim's neck stump on fire.
 * Painkiller has a gun that fires shurikens and lightning. Yahtzee was impressed.
 * Blanka and Necro can both generate electricity in Street Fighter.
 * And in later games in the series, Ryu has the Denjin Hadoken, which is an electric version of the Hadoken.
 * Urien, whose elements are earth and lightning. His two Super Arts, Temporal Thunder and Aegis Reflector, are lightning-based.
 * Crimson Viper wears gloves which allow her to electrocute her enemies whenever she punches them.
 * In Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, there were Mjolnir and Gungnir. Mjolnir, named after Thor's hammer, actually looked more like a giant light bulb, but is apparently made out of lightning or something. It's the most powerful mace in the game and does damage over time.
 * Aria of Sorrow has two lightning weapons, Gungnir and Vajra, that are rather potent and deals multiple hits (like all lightning-based player attacks do in this game). There's also the Lightning Doll soul, which is very popular and almost gamebreaking because it has considerable range, deals high damage with multiple hits for a relatively low MP cost, and lets you feel like Emperor Palpatine (which might be helped by the fact that
 * As part of the Fire, Ice, Lightning trio of elemental swords in Symphony of the Night, there's the Thunderbrand, which, according to its description, is the lightning sword of the Hindu God Indra.
 * Shanoa from Order of Ecclesia wields 2 magic glyphs the player finds in the game. Fulgur is a ball of lightning that travels a certain distance while blasting any enemy it comes across with multiple hits and Vol Fulgur fires a large thunderbolt that shoots straight to its target(s) and does multiple hits for a brief moment.
 * Raiden of Mortal Kombat. God of Lightning and all.
 * Raiden Wins. BWOW!
 * Although his powers over water have been emphasized in the most recent installments, Rain has always had the ability to call down lightning from above.
 * The Electro Bolt ability in Bioshock, which is the first ability you learn in the game. Doesn't tend to kill but stuns the enemy (and can do bonus damage if shot in water while an enemy's in it).
 * The chemical launcher can shoot electric gel, and the shotgun can shoot electric shells. In Bioshock 2, the final upgrade for the shotgun gives its normal shots a chance to shock the enemy.
 * In Dead Rising 2 and related games, the player can make a variety of weapons that utilize electricity, like a makeshift taser (that doubles as an ATM hacking device), a Blanka mask attatched to a car battery, and a Lightning Gun.
 * Luigi gets to generate electricity in his hands as his specific power in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga. The power returns in Mario Strikers Charged Football, where he can pull lightning from storm clouds.
 * The Zap spell in a number of Dragon Quest games.
 * The Warslug monsters (which look like chubby, bipedal salamanders with horns) in the Disgaea series specialize in electrical attacks.
 * In the Marvel vs. Capcom games, the Silver Samurai can charge his katana with fire, ice, or lightning for about a minute at a time.
 * Victor von Gerdenheim of the Darkstalkers series is a Frankenstein's Monster whose body produces massive amounts of electricity, more than even a bolt of lightning. If you hold down any of his attack buttons, the attack will be charged with electricity.
 * The Legend of Zelda:
 * If you're so foolish as to return to the shop in Mabe Village from Link's Awakening after stealing from the place, the shopkeeper will sic his Force Lightning powers on you until you are dead, after which your save title will be renamed to "THIEF".
 * In Skyward Sword, a large part of the bestiary in Lanayru Province can trigger this with their attacks. This is also why it's advised to never bring the iron shield there.
 * The indie game Shadowgrounds has a Lightning Gun as your final weapon. You can upgrade it to have more bolts and give it a slowly recharging ammo supply. The alt-fire shoots a REALLY powerful blast of electricity.
 * Arc Charger in Resistance: Fall of Man.
 * The Xenophobe arcade game had a Lightning Rifle.
 * Galford D. Weiler in Samurai Shodown is a lightning user.
 * Kafuin Nocotin was both a lightning and a fire user.
 * In Tales of Destiny, although more specializing in multiple elements, Philia Felice's Swordian Clemente is designed as the 'Lightning Swordian'.
 * Shing Meteoryte of Tales of Hearts is technically Light-tilted, but a lot of his techs that deal light damage have "lightning" in the name somewhere and/or actually create waves and bolts of lightning. The exceptions have "star" in the name instead. Spark Web is also one of the Light spells, and the favored move of a late-game Light monster. Lightning is apparently a subset of Light here.
 * Lightning bl-Super lightning blade!
 * In addition to those abilities of the party members that use it, two of the game's boss fights - Yuan and Kvar - use the lightning element exclusively.
 * Although Colette prominently uses Angel-aligned powers, she also uses plenty of lightning-based powers as well, such as Para Ball, Torrential Para Ball, and Grand Chariot.
 * In Tales of the Abyss, Jade has Indignation!!!
 * Saki Tsuzura of Arcana Heart has Bhanri, Arcana of Lightning, as the default Arcana.
 * Benimaru Nikaido of King of Fighters.
 * And from the same company, Kim Dong Hwan of Garou: Mark of the Wolves.
 * Ky Kiske of Guilty Gear rides the lightning.
 * Shin Megami Tensei:
 * Akihiko Sanada in Persona 3 has an Emperor Arcana Persona that specializes in Lightning.
 * Kanji Tatsumi in Persona 4 is more of a physical person, but most of his magic is Lightning based. Like Akihiko, his Persona is also of the Emperor Arcana.
 * The Player Character, likewise, starts off with Izanagi, a Persona with electric attacks.
 * An unusually high amount of the main character's high level Personas, such as Yoshitsune and Kohryu, learn more lightning spells than any other element and his initial persona, Izanagi, has Zio right from the start, and although the main character can equip Personas that use all elements, half of most players' final Persona lineups will have Ziodyne.
 * Thunder Reign, Thor's Spell and the trongest electric attack...It stuns always.
 * And since it's brought up, the Shin Megami Tensei franchise in general has the Zio spells, counting some thunder-based physical spells, weapons, and the maximum spell Thunder Reign, as seen in Persona 3. Curiously enough, The Heroine and Hiroko and Beth all have Zio spells.
 * Cielo and Roland in Digital Devil Saga.
 * Warcraft:
 * Far Seers have Chain Lightning. Need we say more?
 * Naga sea witches (neutral heroes from The Frozen Throne), Lady Vashj in the Blood Elves campaign.
 * And the shaman class in World of Warcraft. Especially when specialized in elemental combat.
 * Some raid bosses have lightning abilities, Lady Vashj from Serpentshrine Cavern and Akil'Zon from Zul'Aman, to name a few.
 * Druids get the Hurricane spell, but that's the only one for them that has lightning.
 * Hunters have two pets with lightning-based racial attacks: Wind Serpents and Chimaeras (paired with Frost in the Chimaera's case).
 * Iku Nagae in the Touhou spinoff fighting game Scarlet Weather Rhapsody uses lots and lots of lightning attacks.
 * Soga no Tojiko from Ten Desires shoots "thunder arrows" in her Mid Boss fight. Mononobe no Futo from the same game uses the same arrows as part of one of her spellcards.
 * City of Heroes has electric ranged and melee powersets among its many Stock Super Powers.
 * As does the developers' later work, Champions Online.
 * Pokémon:
 * The Electric type always pack a few electric attacks. Including the franchise mascot itself, Pikachu.
 * Electric Pokemon on the whole tend to favor high Special Attack and Speed stats, making them great for Special Sweeping in competitive play. Pure Electric-types only have Ground attacks as a weakness, but Ground attacks are so ubiquitous that it keeps it from being a total gamebreaking typing.
 * The notable exception of electricity-wielding Electric Pokemon is Voltorb/Electrode. Despite being Electric-type, it did not learn any Electric-type attacks naturally until Gen III - at which point it was presented with 2, one of which was a mere stat-boosting move.
 * The Gym Leaders Lt. Surge of Kanto, Wattson of Hoenn, Volkner of Sinnoh, and Elesa of Unova all specialize in the Electric-type.
 * Elec Man, Spark Man, Cloud Man, Dynamo Man, Plug Man, and Sheep Man from the Mega Man series are Robot Masters that use electricity-based attacks.
 * Mega Man Battle Network applies the lightning descriptor to Magnet Man, Bright Man, Flash Man, and new Navi Thunder Man as well as Elec Man and Spark Man themselves. Toadman's song is also electric elemental. Rock himself can use an electric Style, Thunder Soul, Magnet Soul, or Elec Cross, depending on game, and electricity-based paralysis control folders popped up every Metagame during the series run.
 * The Mavericks like Spark Mandril, Volt Catfish, Web Spider, Volt Kraken, and a host of others in the Mega Man X series.
 * Rock Man 4 Minus Infinity Game Mod gave Bright Man the ability to use electricity.
 * The Zerker form in Mega Man Star Force 2 rewards you for taking lots of electrical attacks with a twenty-point power increase to each shot. Including, with a particularly swish counterattack, the Thunder Bolt (TB) Blade, which is a very unpleasant experience for everything on the screen except you.
 * Escape Velocity: Nova:
 * The Triphammer, which proves that entirely too much firepower will never, ever go out of style.
 * If the player takes the Vell-os path, your final psychic "weave", Winter Tempest, is a Deflector Shields-piercing lightning bolt.
 * Syphon Filter has the much beloved Air Taser, which sends electrical shocks down a long-ranged probe and into a poor Mook's body until they combust.
 * Crono, the main character of Chrono Trigger, though his powers being "Lightning" are a change caused by Nintendo's "no religious references" policy--in Japanese, it was "Holy", but in the DS remake, this was partly reverted back to "Light".
 * Michael Roa Valdamjong from Tsukihime. The original Roa, not the pathetic reincarnated one, and is one of the most powerful mages in the Nasuverse and primarily uses electric magic.
 * Both Sonia and Might in the Psychic Force series.
 * Larxene from Kingdom Hearts.
 * Borrowing from Final Fantasy's magic system, there's also a Thunder spell available to Sora, Donald, and some enemies. It's one of the more useful ones, too, with good area damage.
 * As might be expected, given what it's based on, Knights of the Old Republic allows you to shoot lightning at people. Combining this with a stun power is great for wiping out rooms full of mooks...
 * Star Wars: The Old Republic: the Sith Inquisitor class can use several different versions of this. The Sith Warrior class has at least one attack like this.
 * The Lightning Bolt and Lightning Arrester psychs from The World Ends With You.
 * Tien Wu, Goddess of Lightning, in Bikini Karate Babes.
 * Cole McGrath, protagonist of In Famous, commands all manners of electricity based attacks, from grenades and shields to localized lightning strikes. You'll need all the powers you can get as the enemies are NOT pushovers. There's also unique electric powers for the good and bad skill trees, and rail grinding and levitating to boot. There is even a Trophy labeled "Shock and Awe" in the sequel, where you Thunder Drop onto a group of five or more enemies.
 * The Titans of the Heroes of Might and Magic series, the traditional ultimate unit of the Wizard/Academy/Tower faction since the second game, are giants that fling lightning bolts at their unlucky foes. The Titans of the fifth game take it even further; the default Titans can call lightning from the sky to strike their enemies (useful in situations where a ranged attack wouldn't be as effective) and the alternate upgrade, the Storm Titan, can summon stormclouds on the battlefield. And the more magic oriented Heroes can make good use of the lightning bolt and chain lightning spells available in most of the games.
 * The Arc Welder weapon in Red Faction: Guerilla, a flamethrower that shoots lightning instead of flame and can kill a vehicle's pilot without damaging the vehicle.
 * Emitter-class weapons in Sword of the Stars. Pros: always accurate and can chain to other nearby targets. Cons: short range and really poor at attacking planets: they're like a slightly more intense than average thunderstorm.
 * Speaking of chaining, Tesla towers in  ~Defense Grid: The Awakening~  can chain to nearby aliens. They also charge up when not firing to unleash a stronger attack, making them good rear guard towers.
 * Breath of Fire III:
 * Aside from Squishy Wizard Nina, Rei uses lightning magic. You won't use it a lot, though...
 * It's also the trademark move of Balio, a recurring antagonist in the early portion of the game.
 * Any .hack spell with the word "Rai" in it. (Rai Rom and its upgraded forms are one of the more impressive variations, creating a lightning tornado.)
 * KamuiPacificators fighters use homing lightning extensively as attacks.
 * R-Type has the R13 line of fighters, which all have a lightning-based Wave Motion Gun.
 * Suikoden's Flik The Blue Lightning comes with the Lightning Rune by default, and he's got a pretty damn good magic stat for a Knight-type character, which means his magic will hit hard. It's been a while, but IIRC, you can't remove the Lightning Rune from him (why would you?).
 * So you can replace it with the much more powerful Thunder Rune? And yes, you can remove his Lightning Rune, in both games.
 * Rachel Alucard from Blaz Blue.
 * Comes loaded onto the Die Spinne 'Piranha' fighter in Crimson Skies: High Road to Revenge.
 * Alphonse in Visions & Voices is the only playable character who can use Shock spells.
 * The titular character in Otto Matic has a weapon called Supernova which electrocutes everything in sight. Also used to activate doors and teleporters in one level, and it activates automatically if you step in water, but that won't do you much good because water makes you die.
 * Mass Effect 2:
 * It gives us the Arc Projector, a chain-lightning gun used to overpower non-armor defenses.
 * Some soldier classes also have the ability to shoot lightning bullets by using Disrupter Ammo, and some tech classes have the ability to use Overload, which delivers a powerful electromagnetic pulse that makes short work of rob...pardon me, SYNTHETIC enemies.
 * Super Robot Wars:
 * The RaiOh and DaiRaiOh of Super Robot Wars Alpha 3 elevate this to new heights by combining this trope with Extremity Extremist. It being a walking Shout-Out to Kamen Rider also helps.
 * In the same franchise, variations of the mass-produced original mecha Gespenst is armed with plasma stakes that generate and store electricity that discharges following a Megaton Punch.
 * Plasma/Spark Kirby from the Kirby series can generate electricity by moving around to use for attacking.
 * The Beam ability allows Kirby to attack with a shocking whip.
 * Lightning is one of the elemental magics a mage can use in Dragon Age Origins. The spell combination of Spell Might + Blizzard + Tempest (in that order) = Storm of the Century, which summons a massive lightning cyclone that will probably kill anything without full boss-level hp that's stuck in it for the entire spell duration.
 * Yellow Pikmin are immune to electricity in Pikmin 2.
 * Borderlands: scoring a Critical Hit on a humanoid target with a Shock weapon overloads their entire body with electricity until it has nowhere else to go but to melt the victim's face and blow out a piece of their skull!
 * Jaster Rogue in Rogue Galaxy has the ability to make electricity generate from his sword and deal lightning damage during the duration of the spell. Useful for taking out mechanical Mooks.
 * Ginchiyo Tachibana in Samurai Warriors 2 has a sword with a serrated blade which generates powerful pulses of lightning that electrocutes her foes as she slashes them, and can also call down waves of lightning from the sky as a special ability. Her musou attack allows her to create a powerful electromagnetic shield which damages all enemies in her immediate vicinity.
 * Semi-obscure PC fighting game One Must Fall features the Electra, a several-stories tall robot whose fighting style largely centers around the fact that, in place of hands, it possesses spikes which are conductors for its electrical attacks. These include small sparks fired by arcing electricity between them, forming ball lightning, just touching the opponent with both hands (and thus completing the circuit), and, finally, firing an electrical blast into the sky that summons lightning to destroy its opponent. Blatantly unrealistic, but definitely one of the most awesome kills to watch.
 * Electricity is a powerup in Backyard Sports: Rookie Rush.
 * Electricity is the main attack of the Vortigaunts in Half Life (and the Voltigores in Opposing Force). You can play as a Vortigaunt and use this attack yourself in the bonus level of the Play Station 2 expansion pack, Half Life: Decay.
 * In Castle Crashers, the Red Knight's magic is based around lightning.
 * Haschel and the purple dragon in Legend of Dragoon.
 * Bug! gets the power to zap his enemies when he picks up a limited-use Zap Cap Power-Up. And then there were the lightning bugs in Splot, who fired electricity from their plug-like butt to electrocute Bug.
 * Baldur's Gate, as a Dungeons and Dragons adaptation, has lightning spells, of which the most accessible is the level 3 Lightning Bolt.
 * Viewtiful Joe's girlfriend and sidekick, Sexy Silvia, can use lightning based attacks such as Cool Blue Kick.
 * We have Runescape's Saradomin Strike attack. It summons a nice, harmless thunderbolt...
 * Modnation Racers has the Bolt Power-up that can level up from a linear attack, to a bolt that does splash damage, and then to a lightning storm attack that shocks every racer in front of the user.
 * Devil May Cry has Trish, whose powers are greatly shown In Marvel vs. Capcom 3, and in DMC 2, Lucia and Dante have access to the lightining elemental heart.
 * All three games in the MOTHER trilogy feature the PSI attack PK Thunder. Unlike most examples, this attack cannot be controlled and targets a random enemy. And unless it misses completely, it cannot be blocked or countered like most other psychic attacks in the game.
 * Super Smash Bros reverses this by making PK Thunder the most controllable move Ness and Lucas can use, and it's just as easy to block as any other projectile.
 * Asura's Wrath has Lord Deus.
 * In Dark Souls, lightning is associated with Gwyn, the Lord of Sunlight. It's effective against many enemies and is particularly effective against dragons. Awesomely depicted in the opening cutscene when Gwyn and his entire army fling lightning bolts to bring down a swarm of dragons. The miracles offered by the Warriors of Sunlight covenant allow a player to do the same thing. A player can also forge weapons with a lightning enchantment, enchant a normal weapon with lightning via the Sunlight Blade miracle, or use a gold pine resin to temporarily charge it up.

Web Comics

 * George (of Bob and George) has electricity-based powers. He can travel via lightning and zap entire armies of enemies into submission. Apparently, his only limitation was low self-confidence.
 * The Cyantian Chronicles: Vin steps out of a cave and displays a new way to deal with his father.
 * Girl Genius: Gil Wulfenbach's zapping stick.
 * Also, Agatha Heterodyne's first and second ray guns. ("Hee hee! Death ray go BOOM!")
 * And, for that matter, the Sturmhalten lightning moat. ("Iz hard to get de insurance.")
 * The lightning crossbow in Those Destined.
 * Tengu's power in Earthsong.
 * ...weathercontrolweathercontrolweathercontrolweathercontrolweathercontrol...
 * The Maestro in Dominic Deegan is the comic's foremost electromancer. He's also twitchy and speaks with a "bzzt" Verbal Tic, both of which are side effects of all that exposure to electricity.
 * The gag being that he's hired as a conductor for a concert, but it turns out he's a conductor. Get it? The series is known for its many groan-inducing puns.
 * Sparks from Antihero for Hire.
 * Sharon Curon of Thunderstruck. At first, it looked like she simply could absorb electricity and turn it into super strength. Some training and a bout of Grand Theft Me showed there was much more to her power, including the ability to zap people like an electric eel.
 * Ruby from Special School has this power, now if only she could control it more.
 * Anne,, and, later, John in Coga Suro 2, due to entering into some sort of contract with an immortal lightning-ghost.
 * In "Pacificators", lightning-users are often insane due to frying the brain with their powers. We've only seen one so far, though.
 * Sakido from Slightly Damned has enough lightning for a pack of demons when she's mad. Which is almost always.
 * Albert Gaspeed, a minor villain from Wright As Rayne, seems to enjoy punching people with electricity.
 * Wayward Sons: Suras, as part of his weather controlling abilities.
 * Lightning Lass in The Specialists.
 * In Sinfest, Satan uses it on Jesus.
 * Romeo in No Songs for The Dead packs a thunderous punch as his fists are made of a mix of lightning and magical energy. His eyes also crackle with similar energy.

Web Original

 * "Can you stop electrocuting people with your horrible electricity shocking powers?"
 * EMP is used twice in Broken Saints. The first time is when the  Big Bad finds Raimi and Oran and attempts to fry them. The second time occurs when
 * Imperious, in the Whateley Universe. But he may be an avatar or reincarnation (or something) of Zeus. Plus Antenna, who can't stop generating incredible amounts of lightning from his body.
 * Imperious, as befits an avatar (or whatever) of Zeus, can hurl lightning bolts where he wants them to go. Antenna has the 'real physics' problem. His lightning arcs all over the place and he has no control over it. When he's outside his room, he has to be in a walker full of gadgets that keep him from electrocuting everyone nearby.
 * Ramthundar of the Avatar Adventures uses lightning as one of his signature abilities.
 * In Kickassia, both
 * Angry Joe has the ability to use Force Lightning. It is exactly as hammy as you think.
 * In Trinton Chronicles, Sabella has the ability to generate electrical blasts and ball lighting. This, merged with her water control, tends to be rather lethal.
 * The Mysterious Somebody's weapon of choice was blasts of Force Lightning; aside from telekinetically snapping neck, it's the only attack he was shown using.
 * Celestina and Genessa from Fate Nuovo Guerra have some expertise with this kind of magecraft, particularly the spell Perunic, which creates a large tornado that shoots lightning bolts at the enemy. They also use it to accelerate metal objects magnetically, ala railgun.
 * Electricity is a favorite power in the Global Guardians PBEM Universe. Canadian superhero Acolyte, the villainous Chain Lightning, electrical-powered speedster Lightning Dancer and her identical (and evil) twin Blitz, Chinese hero Voltage, Disney-sponsored hero Big Thunder, Juice, the super-strong Relampago, the Italian super-criminal Dinimo, Russian super-assassin Molnya, Thunderfist, Lightning Rod of the Hyperion Academy, and Cracklin' Rose all possess electrical powers.
 * The main hero in Elemental is Michael, an Elemental of lightning. Not only can he launch the bolts from his body, he can also summon them from the clouds above, as well as channel the energy into his sword to create a lightsaber like effect.
 * The chief weapon of The Mercury Men.

Western Animation

 * The most skilled and powerful Firebenders of Avatar: The Last Airbender can create lightning as a secondary ability. This includes Ozai, Azula, and Iroh. A few can even redirect it.
 * When Iroh is explaining to Zuko the basics behind lightningbending, he discusses positive and negative energy as well. The process of lightningbending actually involves separating positive and negative energy, and providing release and guidance for that positive and negative energy when they restore balance, generating lightning.
 * It becomes more common in Sequel Series The Legend of Korra used to power Republic City.
 * A common power of XANA-possessed people and Polymorphic Specters in Code Lyoko.
 * Sparky (Experiment 221) from the television franchise Lilo and Stitch. He can produce large amounts of electricity from his body, cause black outs, and release a powerful electric blast from his antenna.
 * Lightning from the Teen Titans cartoon was apparently an actual god of the stuff.
 * In the pilot of Tale Spin, Don Karnage had a Lightning Gun. Apparently, forties-level technology is able to create artificial gems that continually generate electricity and nobody noticed.
 * Well, SOMEONE did in Real Life quite a bit earlier...
 * Static of Static Shock.
 * Bumblebee in Transformers Animated can shoot electricity through prongs that come out of his hands called "stingers". They're not incredibly useful. More usefully, Ultra Magnus can summon lightning with his hammer, Thor-style.
 * As an electric eel, Unagi from Sushi Pack both eats and discharges electricity as part of his attacks.
 * Megavolt from Darkwing Duck.
 * Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law: "In my pants... (That's Super Volt!)"
 * "What's Opera Doc", especially at Elmer Fudd's Villainous Breakdown.
 * Will Vandom and Nerissa of WITCH use quintessence. While magical energy, the series shows it being fired off as electric blasts.
 * Shirley from Tiny Toon Adventures can fire electricity, as seen in "The Amazing Three" and "Journey to the Center of Acme Acres". This is also her special attack in Tiny Toons: Defenders of the Universe, one of the licensed games of the series.
 * Weather-controlling pegasi in My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic can make clouds release a bolt of lightning.
 * In addition, Nightmare Moon used it for attacking the guards (even without a cloud to shoot it from), and Luna later used it dramatically.

Real Life

 * Electro-Magnetic Pulses. Some conventional ways of doing this exist.
 * Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you...The Electrolaser!
 * Three words: Musical Tesla Coils.
 * Tesla Coils, period. And Jacob's Ladders.
 * In his book Shocking Electricity, Nick Arnold mentions an English woman named Jaqueline Priestman who could change TV channels without touching the device and make outlets explode due to the high voltage in her body.
 * (Psycho) Electric Eels, Electric Catfish, and Torpedo Rays.
 * A common elemental theme for sports teams, most notably the San Diego Chargers and Tampa Bay Lightning, the latter of which recently installed its own tesla coils in their stadium because they felt like it.
 * From the short-lived NFL Europe.... Berlin Thunder.