Lightning is a ginger orange cat who first appeared in the 1948 short Old Rockin' Chair Tom as Tom's rival. Lightning is named as such because in his first short, he practically moved at the speed of lightning. In later cartoons, Lightning often appeared as one of Tom's alley cat buddies/rivals. He also appears in Switchin' Kitten. Lightning resembles Meathead, though the two are not the same and have appeared side-by-side in a few cartoons. He was voiced by Daws Butler, Charles Lung, Don Messick, Billy West, Jeff Bennett, Sam Vincent, Keith Ferguson, Joey Wells, Roger Craig Smith, Jeff Bergman and Stephen Stanton.