Deathbolt is a supervillain appearing in

American comic book An American comic book is a thin periodical originating in the United States, on average 32 pages, containing comics. While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publication of ''Action Comics'' ...

s published by

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

. He was created by the

Ultra-Humanite Ultra-Humanite is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. He first appeared as a recurring adversary of Superman. The Ultra-Humanite is the first supervillain faced by Superman and he is among the first supervillai ...

to fight the All-Star Squadron. Deathbolt made his first live appearance in the

third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * Second#Sexagesimal divisions of calendar time and day, 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (d ...

season of the Arrowverse television series ''Arrow'' played by actor Doug Jones. Deathbolt also reappeared in an episode of the

first First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

season of ''The Flash'' as well.

Fictional character biography

Wanted for murder, Jake Simmons fled police in a stolen

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

during a heavy storm. He crashed when lightning struck the plane over

Meteor Crater Meteor Crater, or Barringer Crater, is a meteorite impact crater about east of Flagstaff and west of Winslow in the desert of northern Arizona, United States. The site had several earlier names, and fragments of the meteorite are official ...

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

. The

found him and experimented on him until his body became a living electrical battery. Code-named "Deathbolt", he became the Ultra-Humanite's staunch ally until his defeat by the All-Star Squadron. Deathbolt (or a successor) returned in recent years and tried to kill the late

Starman ''StarMan'' is a 1996 fantasy novel by Australian writer Sara Douglass. It follows the second book in the series, '' Enchanter'', with Axis marching north with his army to confront a formidable enemy. Background ''StarMan'' was first published ...

, Ted Knight only to be thwarted by the arrival of Ted's descendant Farris Knight.

Powers and abilities

Deathbolt can channel the electrical energy in his body into powerful blasts of electricity.

In other media

Doug Jones portrayed a version of Deathbolt in the live-action television series, ''

Arrow An arrow is a fin-stabilized projectile launched by a bow. A typical arrow usually consists of a long, stiff, straight shaft with a weighty (and usually sharp and pointed) arrowhead attached to the front end, multiple fin-like stabilizers c ...

'', in the season three episode "Broken Arrow". Significantly, he was the first metahuman villain to appear on the series, with the ability to control and shoot plasma. By the end of the episode, it was revealed that he did not receive his powers from the particle accelerator explosion at Central City - as he was in prison in

Opal City Opal is a hydrated amorphous form of silicon dioxide, silica (SiO2·''n''H2O); its water content may range from 3 to 21% by weight, but is usually between 6 and 10%. Due to its amorphous property, it is classified as a mineraloid, unlike cry ...

on the night of the explosion - but from another unknown means, widening the possibilities of how metahumans come about in the Arrowverse. Deathbolt also appears as one of the villains in ''

The Flash The Flash (or simply Flash) is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Harry Lampert, the original Flash first appeared in ''Flash Comics'' #1 (cover date ...

'' episode "Rogue Air", portrayed again by Doug Jones. As he was about to kill

, he is himself killed by Captain Cold because in Cold's own words said: "He owed me money".

References

Comics characters introduced in 1983 DC Comics supervillains DC Comics metahumans Characters created by Roy Thomas Characters created by Jerry Ordway Fictional characters with electric or magnetic abilities {{DC-char-stub