"They called me mad. They called me insane! They were right."
Electrifying characters and items in Western Animation.
- Action Man (2000): Tempest. And yes; he is blonde and insane.
- Avatar: The Last Airbender: The most skilled and powerful Firebenders can create and/or redirect lightning as a secondary ability. In the original show, these are all members of the Fire Nation royal family, namely Ozai, Azula, and Iroh.
- When Iroh is explaining to his nephew Zuko the basics behind lightningbending, he discusses positive and negative energy as well. The process of lightningbending involves separating positive and negative energy, and providing release and guidance for that positive and negative energy when they restore balance, generating lightning. In particular, the show subverts the usual association between Lightning powers and insanity: generating lightning requires absence of emotions and peace of mind, and lightning is often called "cold-blooded fire". Azula is crazy enough, all right, but maybe she simply mastered the technique so perfectly that she can enter the required state of mind automatically.
- It becomes more common in Sequel Series The Legend of Korra, to the point where lightning-benders are standard staff in Republic City power plants. Although the method they use is a newer, less powerful method. Mako, the firebender of New Team Avatar, is reasonably capable with the technique, though Zuko's grandson Iroh seems to be the most adept at it and he does the older method.
- Lightning is actually used for the second on-screen death in the entire franchise towards the end of book 3. Mako is fighting Ming-hua (the armless waterbender) and she lures him to an underground pool. He gets clear of the water and takes advantage of her Achilles' Heel by shooting lightning up her Combat Tentacles. She dies almost instantly.
- Also from Korra, the Equalists and their electrified stun gun gloves are almost too badass. One little tap and even master benders drop like flies. The Lieutenant gets extra credit here with his electrified kali sticks, which he uses to beat Mako and Bolin so badly that he can still seem kind of awesome in later episodes when he's used as the resident punching bag. Asami, New Team Avatar's Badass Normal, later adopts an Equalist electric Power Fist as her primary weapon.
- In Batman: The Brave and the Bold's Animated Adaptation of Emperor Joker, after the Joker is given Reality Warper powers from Bat-Mite, he uses his superpowered Electric Joybuzzer to shock Batman unconscious mid-sentence in a Shout-Out to Emperor Palpatine from Star Wars.
- Ben 10 is straight-up lousy with this trope. None of Ben's original 10 aliens had electric powers, but the rest of the franchise has more than made up for that.
- Ben 10: Benviktor/Frankenstrike. Also the Megawhatts.
- Ben 10: Alien Force: Brainstorm.
- Ben 10: Ultimate Alien: AmpFibian.
- Ben 10: Omniverse: Feedback. Also featured the first in-series appearance of Shocksquatch (who had made his debut in Heroes United) and the first chronological appearance of the Omnitrix's sample of the Megawhatts' species, Buzzshock (who had previously shown up in "Ben 10,000" in the original series).
- Ben 10 (2016): Shock Rock. He's a particularly notable example because he combines it with Dishing Out Dirt.
- Code Lyoko: This is a common power of XANA-possessed people and Polymorphic Specters.
- Dad'X: Foudror frequently attacks people with lightning that shoots out of his claws.
- Megavolt from Darkwing Duck. He's even the page image!
- In Dr. Dimensionpants, the titular hero has shooting lightning as one of his powers.
- Dragons: Riders of Berk: A few dragon species use electricity rather than fire.
- The Skrill is the first electric dragon introduced in the series. Its metallic spines absorb ambient electricity and it exhales an ionized gas that gives said electricity a path to follow.
- The Seashocker can generate a current between its two head. If the two heads touch while doing this, the result is an electromagnetic blast.
- Final Space: In Episode 3x1, the lizard Titan produces purple lightning from his body to electrocute Bolo, sending the latter crashing into the planet where the Team Squad are located.
- Gravity Falls: The artificial intelligence .GIFfany from "Soos and the Real Girl" is capable of firing electricity from any device she is inside of, in addition to freely moving between electronics in the first place. As revealed in Journal 3, this extends to her "form" as a character in Fight Fighters when she ends up trapped inside that arcade.
- Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law: "In my pants... (That's Super Volt!)"
- Hilda: Raven the Thunderbird.
- Dragna's Mooks in The New Adventures of Jonny Quest episode "Warlord of the Sky." They are infused with static electricity allowing them to electrocute opponents by touch.
- Sparky (Experiment 221) from Lilo & Stitch: The Series. He can produce large amounts of electricity from his body, cause black outs, and release a powerful electric blast from his antenna.
- MeteoHeroes: Fulmen controls lightning and thunder.
- My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
- Weather-controlling pegasi 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.
- In "Bloom & Gloom", Applebloom's first cutie mark nightmare has her becoming an exterminator hunting after twittermites, magical insects that can control electricity and generate bigger jolts the bigger their swarm gets.
- "A Health of Information" has flash bees, highly aggressive bees that defend their nest with electricity. It just so happens Fluttershy needs their honey to make a cure for Swamp Fever, and in her sickened and sleep-deprived state "The Stare" is useless against them.
- The New Adventures of Superman: The antagonists of "The Lethal Lightning Bug" and "Night of the Octopod" have the ability to discharge deadly bolts of lightning.
- Skull Island (2023): The Kraken's tentacles are not only venomous, they're bio-electric, able to deliver electric shocks to anything they grab.
- Sky Dancers: One of Breeze's abilities is to fire directed lightning blasts.
- Star Trek: Lower Decks: In "Envoys", the transdimensional being unleashes bolts of its own energy, although its attacks don't seem to be all that harmful because Ensign Mariner can subdue it with her bare hands and she doesn't get hurt when it zaps her. After being severely drained of its power, the alien attempts to kill Captain Freeman, but ends up dissipating itself on impact.
- Star Wars Rebels: The Bendu can generate a thunderstorm, ride it, and shoot down lightning bolts powerful enough to One-Hit Kill AT-AT walkers.
- Static Shock: Static himself rather unsurprisingly has this ability, along with the ability to give things a static charge to levitate them or stick them to walls.
- Steven Universe:
- Garnet can generate electricity from her hands, though she favors her gauntlets instead, using her electric powers only once in combat in "When it Rains" against Fusion Experiments by smashing her fists into the ground and sending an arc of lightning at one of them, electrocuting it. She's also used it to power Greg's van and an arcade game.
- Peridot can discharge electricity through her fingers, running a live current through Amethyst's whip when the latter tries to grab her.
- Yellow Diamond can dish out massive torrents of lightning, Emperor Palpatine-style.
- As an electric eel, Unagi from Sushi Pack both eats and discharges electricity as part of his attacks.
- TaleSpin: Don Karnage has a Lightning Gun in the pilot. Apparently, 1940s-level technology is able to create artificial gems that continually generate electricity and nobody noticed.
- Teen Titans (2003): Lightning is apparently an actual god of the stuff.
- Tiny Toon Adventures: Shirley 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.
- Transformers: Animated:
- Bumblebee can shoot electricity through prongs that come out of his hands called "stingers". Even when he's combining his powers with Ratchet's, they're not incredibly useful.
- More usefully, Ultra Magnus can summon lightning with his hammer, Thor-style.
- Shockwave also shows off this power in the series finale. When in his true form, he can project electricity from either his antennae or the tips of his claws. He never uses it in combat, but it can be strong enough to cut through starship armor.
- Voltron: Legendary Defender: Honerva and the Galra Druids under her command use this power, in the form of purple lightning that they can shoot out of their hands, thanks to the refined Quintessence that they harvest. It is particularly frightening when they combine it with Offscreen Teleportation, as Keith finds out when he tries to spy on a Galra druid. They also like to use this ability as a form of Electric Torture, whenever they are required to act as interrogators on the enemies of the Galra Empire.
- On a lesser note, Pidge’s bayard can take the form of a multipurpose tool, that can be used as a Static Stun Gun, to briefly incapacitate enemies or annoying teammates, as Lance found when he first mocked the cuteness of her little weapon.
- What's Opera, Doc?, especially at Elmer Fudd's Villainous Breakdown.
- W.I.T.C.H.: Will Vandom and Nerissa use quintessence. While magical energy, the series shows it being fired off as electric blasts.
