Livewire



Livewire is an electrokinetic.

History
Leslie Willis was a popular WLXL shock jock who made a habit of ridiculing Superman. People all over Metropolis listened to Leslie, even Superman. Lex Luthor in particular enjoyed her radio show.

Leslie was interviewed by Lois Lane and Clark Kent about an upcoming party in Centennial Park to celebrate the anniversary of her show. As part of the celebration, there was going to be a concert.

During the party, there was an thunderstorm, and police tried to stop the festivities because they were concerned for the crowd's safety. Leslie disregarded the police's warnings, and went so far as to incite the crowd against the police. The chaos continued until Superman arrived. But Superman couldn't convince her to stop the party. In fact, she took Superman's appearance as an opportunity to ridicule him in public. Then, suddenly, while verbally attacking Superman, a bolt of lightning simultaneously struck Superman and Leslie. She was taken to Metropolis Hospital, where she recovered and quickly learned that not only had her hair and skin changed colour, but she now had the power to generate and manipulate electricity. The former radio personality renamed herself "Livewire" and started her life as a criminal.

She used her new abilities to hijack Metropolis and manipulated every medium, including telephones, televisions and billboards. She announced that she would take control of Metropolis's utilities, declaring that if the public wanted to use them they would have to pay her on a regular basis. However, her power was limited and she needed to recharge her powers regularly. This left her vulnerable. Because of this weakness, Superman was able to track Livewire to a local hydroelectric plant and, in the ensuing battle, she was defeated when exposed to water. After this, she was held under heavy restraint and left in a near catatonic state at Stryker's Island. Her medical care while at Stryker's was financed by Lex Luthor.

Sometime later, she recovered and was kept in a regular cell. She managed to escape her cell by manipulating a janitor into letting her listen to his cassette player which she drained power from and used to blast her way out. Livewire then engaged Superman, but her power was not enough to destroy him. Livewire decided that the best way to defeat Superman was to team up so she sprung another supervillain, Parasite, from his cell. Together, they committed a series of crimes in Metropolis, but eventually Parasite betrayed Livewire by draining her powers. He subsequently used Livewire's powers to attack Superman, all while holding Livewire captive to feed off of her energy. After the Parasite was defeated, he and Livewire were delivered to the authorities. Livewire would be moved to a new prison.

Some time later, when she was being transported through Gotham City, Livewire escaped again and escaped into the Gotham underworld. There, she met Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy. The three formed an alliance to commit a series of crimes. With Superman unavailable, Supergirl headed to Gotham, where she met Batgirl who informed her about Livewire. Batgirl and Supergirl teamed up to fight Livewire, Ivy, and Harley at Gotham Park. During this melee, Livewire almost electrocuted Supergirl, but Batgirl saved her and Livewire was defeated. She was later returned to the Metropolis prison system.

Years later, Livewire became a member of the Superman Revenge Squad to destroy Superman once and for all. They started a rampage at Daily Planet Plaza, but the Justice League intervened and Livewire was easily knocked by J'onn J'onzz. After Superman was "killed" by Toyman, Livewire and Kalibak started another rampage at Metropolis. When Superman returned, Livewire, Kalibak and the other villains were taken down.

She later joined Grodd's Legion of Doom.