Fictional Character Biography
Miguel Santos was born in East Los Angeles, California. Miguel's father, Carlos, was a member of an extremist group called the Legion of the Living Lightning. In a misguided attempt by the Legion to gain control of the Hulk, the group battled him. The Legion was thus destroyed, and Carlos was killed.
Hoping to salvage his father's name, high school student Miguel broke into the Legion's headquarters to learn more about their work. While exploring, Miguel unwittingly turned on one of the Legion's machines and was transformed into a being of living energy. Initially, a confused Miguel clashed with the West Coast Avengers and was apparently killed during the conflict. Later, he turned up alive and was captured by the villain, Doctor Demonicus, and was coerced to join the Pacific Overlords. After a brief, unwilling foray into crime, Miguel aided the Avengers West Coast, and then joined the team. During his tenure with the Avengers West Coast, he teamed with heroes such as the Fantastic Four, Doctor Strange, Darkhawk, and Spider-Man. He battled villains such as Arkon and Thundra, the second Hangman, the Night Shift, Satannish, Death Web, Professor Power, and the Magus. Alongside the Avengers, he participated in the Kree/Shi'ar War. He eventually decided to become an Avengers reservist while attending college. While he occasionally serves with the team, Miguel gave up active membership to concentrate on his studies.
For a time, Miguel and his fellow Avenger Quasar manned a deep-space monitoring station. Their powers enabled them to travel back and forth to Earth without difficulty. Miguel took advantage of the isolation to study.
The Great Lakes Avengers (GLA) invited Miguel Santos in order to recruit him in their team. During the meeting, he turned them down, explaining that he'd attended thinking the team's acronym GLA referred to the Gay/Lesbian Alliance. With his explanation, he inadvertently revealed that he was gay to GLA member Flatman.
During the superhuman Civil War, Miguel joined Captain America's Secret Avengers as one of twenty new members who opposed the Superhuman Registration Act. He worked with the team out of a series of safe houses set up by Nick Fury. He was part of the final battle between the two main sides. After Captain America surrendered to the authorities, Living Lightning became an Initiative recruit, joining the Texas Rangers.
During the Secret Invasion, Living Lightning was with the Rangers when they, 3-D Man, and Ant-Man III were fighting a Skrull that was posing as Lobo.
After Dark Reign, Living Lightning is doing private security work for the Avengers; notably protecting the family of Avengers Academy student Striker.
Read more about this topic: Living Lightning
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