Daughter of Black Lightning Anissa's father Jefferson Pierce (
Black Lightning) and her mother Lynn Stewart did not want her following in his footsteps, and he struck a bargain with her: she would graduate from
college before considering a career in crimefighting. She did, and the same night of her graduation she donned a costume and became
Thunder. She is also the older sister of
Lightning.
Outsiders Shortly after Thunder had started her solo career, she was approached by
Arsenal, who offered her a spot on the new team of Outsiders. Reasoning that she could best learn the superhero trade with a team, she agreed to this offer and became an Outsider. Although she got along with most of her teammates, she seemed to come into conflict with
Grace Choi, a tough promiscuous bouncer, constantly. They were however quite effective as a team, and the two slowly came to a grudging respect between them; later on they became lovers. Eventually her father appeared at the Outsiders headquarters, demanding her resignation from the team. Naturally, she refused and when the danger of
Sabbac arose again, her father even decided to accompany the Outsiders. During that adventure, the two came to respect each other's abilities, neither having seen the other in action before, and Thunder was allowed to remain an Outsider. The extent of her invulnerability was tested during a fight with the re-formed
Fearsome Five.
Shimmer transmutes the air in Thunder's lungs to water, which nearly kills her. She recovers and continues to serve with the Outsiders.
"One Year Later" OYL, Anissa remains a member of the Outsiders (a team that was currently believed to be dead), and has been involved in the attempted toppling of the regime of
Mali. Her role has been instrumental in the mission, having gone undercover amongst the government, a role that has required her to pretend she was having a sexual relationship with the country's ruler Ratun Bennin; in actuality,
Metamorpho used a hallucinogenic compound to fool the dictator. She compromised the team's mission when she revealed her cover and attacked Mali's army, who were going to slaughter a village. It was revealed that Thunder has been in a romantic relationship with her teammate
Grace, making her one of a handful of LGBT people of color in the DC roster. She rejoined the team, when Grace invited her on a mission, without Batman's approval. During the
Batman R.I.P. event, the Outsiders receive a message from the missing Batman, asking them to give
ReMAC a secret code that will allow him to track Batman and
Black Glove. The Outsiders comply, but the code reveals itself as a trap set by
Simon Hurt and causes ReMAC to explode. Several Outsiders are wounded, and Anissa is rendered comatose. Thunder reappears many months later, having recovered and begun living with Grace. Following a botched mission, Black Lightning arrives at Anissa and Grace's apartment with several other members of the Outsiders, telling Anissa that he wishes to see his children again after spending months without any contact with his family. He briefly expresses discomfort over his daughter's sexual orientation, but Anissa tells him off by stating that Grace was there for her when he was not. When the
Justice Society of America attacks the apartment to bring the Outsiders into custody, Anissa chooses to side with her father and fight off the attacking heroes, which ultimately leads to a confrontation with her younger sister, Lightning, whom she claims was always thought of as the "favorite". After the fight is broken up by
Doctor Fate, Anissa and Grace rejoin the Outsiders on a mission to
Markovia, where
Amanda Waller tasked them with capturing
Geo-Force.
DC All In Anissa initially does reappear following
The New 52 reboot. Following
DC Rebirth, she was brought back in
Black Lightning: Cold Dead Hands in 2017, with her character history largely unchanged. She then appears sporadically in several diversity-themed comics: 2021's
Asian Superhero Celebration (alongside Grace), three editions of
DC Pride over 2022–2024 (focusing on her relationship with Grace), and
DC Power in 2024 (alongside other black DC characters). During the
DC All In era in the
Black Lightning series, Anissa's powers expand suddenly, causing her to generate sudden discharges of energy similar to her sister. After Anissa trains with the Justice League, her powers settle into an ability to generate "electrically charged concussive force" along with density control and superhuman strength. She supports her father in opposing the political crusade against metahumans, alongside Grace, Jennifer, and new metahuman recruit to the "House of Lightning" team Isaac Mitchell. ==Powers and abilities==