Bad Bolts Boldly Bedevil Brave Battlers

Former special effects artist Larry Bolatinsky turned to a new costumed career, as an assassin-forhire known as the Bolt on Earth-One. Bolatinsky developed a special super-suit allowing him to discharge immense electricity, while also granting him the ability of limited flight and teleportation. His first known contract was eliminating the former felon and Flash foe, now rehabilitated and working in Hollywood, known as the Trickster. While James Jesse now an advisor for the "Hyper-Normal Conflict Studies" group while also working a side job developing special effetts for movies, found his life repeatedly threatened by Bolt. James in his Trickster persona, aided by Firestorm, was able to defend himself from Bolt's attacks until the assassin canceled his contract upon learning it was duplicitious.

Escaped felon Jake Simmons nearly lost his life when lightning strikes disabled the aircraft he was piloting, until his life was saved and he was transformed into Deathbolt of Earth-Two. This was accomplished when the mental mastermind Ultra-Humanite used his electro-generator on the crook, transforming him into a living electic battery. Deathbolt was granted the ability to generate tremendous amounts of electricity from his body. Due to his life being saved and transformed by Ultra, Deathbolt was exceedingly loyal to the Humanite when the Secret Society of Super-Villains was brought back to their era of the early 1940s.

Bolt and his doppelgänger Deathbolt developed reputations for their tenaciousness, as sub-contracting criminals working under more established supervillains. While Bolt persisted in his conflict with Blue Devil and later Firestorm, Deathbolt had conflicts with several members of the All-Star Squadron. Both men later became involved in the "Villain War" during the Crisis on Infinite Earths in the mid 1980s.