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Lightning Lord, Mekt Ranzz of Winath, is an enemy of the Legion of Super-Heroes and a founding member of the Legion of Super-Villains. He is the older brother of two Legionnaires, both Lightning Lad and Light Lass.
Mekt Ranzz was born the first of three children on the planet Winath. In Winathian society, it was common for parents to give birth to twins, but Mekt was born an only child - a fact that later made him an outcast in Winathian social circles. When he was still a young child, Mekt's parents gave birth to twins, Garth and Ayla. Years later, when all three were teenagers, they attended a party on an alien planet. Returning home, their shuttlecraft malfunctioned and they crashed on the planet Korbal. They discovered that their ship had run out of power and that its engines needed to be recharged. Garth Ranzz lured a herd of Lightning Beasts towards the craft hoping to use their electrical discharges to repower the ship. The animals' energy bursts struck the teens however and not the ship, imbuing all three of them with the ability to generate electricity. Mekt, Garth and Ayla used their powers to recharge the ship's engines and return home.
Following this incident, Mekt quickly withdrew from society and disappeared into the galactic underground. Garth had no idea what fate had befallen his brother, and began searching neighboring star systems in the hopes of finding him. It was on this search that Garth met Rokk Krinn and future wife Imra Ardeen shortly before the formation of the Legion of Super-Heroes.
Mekt however, still scornful for not having a twin, continued to develop a more antisocial personality and this resentment ultimately led him to a life of crime. When next he resurfaced, he had alligned himself with similarly-minded individuals known as the Cosmic King and Saturn Queen. Calling himself Lightning Lord (a pastiche of his brother's code name Lightning Lad), he helped to establish the Legion of Super-Villains.
Lightning Lord and his villainous Legionnaires clashed with the Legion of Super-Heroes many times over the years, the rivalry between his brother and he growing stronger with each conflict. When Ayla Ranzz came of age and began calling herself Lightning Lass, Mekt tried unsuccessfully on numerous occasions to seduce her into a criminal lifestyle. Mekt's mental instability not withstanding, he actually cared very deeply for his sister, and only tried to corrupt her so that he could be closer to her.Lightning Lord's mental instability and obsession with his family often affects his judgment.
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