Ace Lightning (character)

Ace Lightning is a fictional character and the protagonist of the BBC children's television show of the same name. A superhero from the Sixth Dimension, Ace is really a character from a video game and is brought to life to carry out the game's storyline in the real world. Over time, Ace escapes his original programming as a heroic, wisecracking man and into an emotional and human person (even finding love in the form of Lady Illusion, the mistress of his arch enemy Lord Fear, whom he is fighting to gain the Amulet of Zoar) and sending Lord Fear back to prison in the Sixth Dimension. Ace is voiced by Michael Riley.

Personality
Ace first comes off as a stereotypical superhero: courageous, heroic, and cracks jokes at the villains' expense. However, it is shown he knows very little about the real world, which he describes as a "dimension", and is very tightly wound when it comes to his duties as a Lightning Knight, following the code ("Do right and fear not"), and believes Lightning Knights are not friends but merely allies, although he changes his view upon realising how valuable his sidekick, Mark Hollander, is to him. Ace is very protective of his friends and mankind, who he refers to as mortals. In the first season, Ace's curiosity gets the better of him, leading him to break multiple objects in Mark's house like a blender and the backdoor of Mark's house. In the second season, Ace's emotions become more out-of-control when Lady Illusion affects him with an upgrade that scrambles his original programming. Ace sheds a single tear when Lady Illusion seemingly dies in his arms, in the series' last episode.

Abilities
Ace's abilities seem to be inspired by those of Superman or Thor. He can fly and run at the speed of electricity. He possesses superhuman strength, capable of lifting the heavyweight Anvil into the air and tossing him skywards. In the second season, Ace is upgraded with the abiltiy to shoot projectile fire attacks from his wrist cannon gauntlets. Ace also comes equipped with several Lightning Knight weapons like the Lightning Lance and the Shield of Justice. Ace's trademark attack is the ability to fire electricity from his wrist cannons in a series of forms like electrically-created spears, an explosive electrical orb, and his standard attacks of firing electrical blasts. Ace can recharge his abilities on a transformer.

History
Ace is foremost of the Lightning Knights and leads the war against Lord Fear and his army of villains. Despite his powers and status, Ace is shown to be a bit klutzy and forgetful (two running gags in the first season involve Ace accidentally breaking things around Mark's house and constantly getting Mark's name wrong). Sometime before the events of the show, Ace battled against Lord Fear and crippled his right leg, presumably what made their enemies. Shortly before arriving on Earth, Ace managed to successfully imprison Lord Fear and his gang in chambers of pure energy (according to the yearbook). However, Lady Illusion freed the villains and they stole the Amulet of Zoar. A battle erupted over the Amulet but it was ultimately shattered to pieces. The destruction of the Amulet opened a portal to Earth which Lord Fear used to escape Ace. Ace followed and hired Mark Hollander as his sidekick. Shortly after his arrival on Earth, Ace was captured by Lord Fear but rescued by Mark.

Ace soon falls in love with Lady Illusion in secret but their relationship quickly ends when Lord Fear shows up looking for vengeance. When Lord Fear summons Googler from White Hot Oblivion, Ace reveals he and Googler had a history together. Googler drains Ace of his superpowers, rendering him human. Ace disguises himself as a police officer using clothes found at the Thunder Tower, and regains his powers shortly afterwards. The arrival of Random Virus in the human world complicates matters, as Ace briefly has to care for his confused and unstable friend.

Mark eventually summons Sparx from the video game to join Ace. However, Sparx's insulting comments toward Mark cause him to stop being Ace's sidekick. Shortly thereafter, Googler's puppets zombify Ace and send him to destroy Mark and Sparx, but with help from Chuck, Ace is restored to normal. During Sparx time on Earth, she proves to be an asset and a worthy ally in Ace's battles against Lord Fear, although Ace often finds himself having to rescue her when her impulsive nature places her in danger. When Sparx is killed by Googler and sent back to the Sixth Dimension, Ace and Mark are on their own again. While attempting to download new powers from Mark's computer, Ace is hit by a virus and frozen solid, but Lady Illusion restores him to life with a kiss. Ace soon finds another piece of the Amulet, which, after some difficulty, he uses to summon Sparx back from the game.

In the finale of Season 1, Lord Fear gains all the pieces of the Amulet and begins to drain the Lightning Knights of their powers. Ace, Sparx and Random battle the villains at the Carnival of Doom but are beaten severely by them. Mark locates the Amulet and shatters it, sending Lord Fear and his minions (except Lady Illusion) back to the game.

In Season 2, Ace and Sparx decide to return home and take Random with them, because the cyborg is becoming uncreasingly dangerous. Unfortunately, Random refuses to go back, and attacks Ace and Sparx. Mark deletes Ace's game file, which is supposed to return all three of them to the game, but because of Lady Illusion's intereference, only Ace and Sparx are sent back into the game, leaving Random and Lady Illusion stranded. Things get worse when Lord Fear returns somehow. Ace is soon summoned back to Earth by Chuck, leaving Sparx alone in the Sixth Dimension with Googler. Ace shortly afterwards gains an upgrade called the Ring of Flame, which enables him to shoot fire from his wrist cannons.

When Kilobyte appears, he upgrades Lady Illusion, giving her new powers. At Kilobyte's command, she uses these powers to afflict Ace with human emotions, which destroy his sense of stability and leave him a wreck. Following various encounters and defeats at the hands of Kilobyte, Ace grows to fear him. Because he is unused to anger, he has no control over the emotion, and becomes enraged at the slightest things (such as losing to Chuck in a table tennis match). When Sparx returns, she tries to help Ace gain control of his emotions, but becomes frustrated by Ace's unwillingness to confront Kilobyte directly. As the series progresses, Ace starts to believe that Kilobyte is being controlled by someone else (The Master Programmer).

In the finale, Ace and Lord Fear join forces to destroy Kilobyte. After taking out all of the minions, Lord Fear, Mark and Ace combine their attacks to defeat Kilobyte. However, Lord Fear then blasts Ace with a new attack, fatally damaging him. In a final twist, it is revealed that 'Ace' was actually Lady Illusion, who had incapactitaed and hidden the real Ace so as to protect him from falling victim to the treachery which she knew that Lord Fear would eventually display. After he and Mark chase off Lord Fear and Dirty Rat, Ace holds the dying Lady Illusion, and she reveals that she truly loves him. As her "last gift" to Ace, she offers to remove the human emotions which have made him weak, but he says that he wishes to keep them, because the things which he now feels for her are "the real gift". Lady Illusion sadly dies in Ace's arms, Ace experiencing his first tear.

In the cancelled Season 3, Ace was to venture into the game to save Lady Illusion, possibly releasing Kilobyte and Rick in the process.