The CW has released the first trailer of Black Lightning, and it is packed with action and drama but unfortunately, will not be a part of the larger DC extended universe that the network has put together.
Played by Cress Williams, Black Lightning is one of DC’s first headlining black superheroes. In the trailer, Jefferson Pierce is shown as a superhero who keeps the streets safe from a gang known as The 100, and is “hope, personified”. But after a particular nasty fight in 2005, he retires and focuses on his life as a father and his career as a Garfield High principal. Fast forward to 2017, and the gang violence hasn’t stopped. When his daughter is threatened, he returns to crime-fighting. Adding to the excitement, seems like the powers run in hid bloodlines, hence his daughter is also seen to manifesting the powers.
The premise of Black Lightning series seems to be heavily adapted from the original Black Lightning: Year One comic series. In the comics, Jefferson Pierce is a teacher at Garfield High School who creates an electronic belt which he uses to fight crime in his impoverished Southside community in Metropolis.
In recent years, The CW has put together an impressive universe based on DC characters which includes Arrow, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, and Supergirl. However, Black Lightning won’t be joining that line-up (for now).
Supergirl was initially separate when it began its life on CBS, but later joined the same universe when it moved to The CW for its second season. Though the producers of these five shows are the same and they are /will air on the same channel, Black Lightning won’t exist in the same universe like the other four. Black Lightning is starting off its life outside of the Arrowverse, but there are chances we might get to hear about the crossover in future (maybe connected via infinite Earth).
Based on the characters from DC, Black Lightning is from Berlanti Productions and Akil Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television, with executive producers Greg Berlanti, Salim Akil and Mara Brock Akil. Black Lightning character was created by Tony Isabella with Trevor Von Eeden.
Justice, walks like thunder, strikes like lightning, and runs in the family. Justice arrives mid-season.
Here’s the synopsis of the show:
Jefferson Pierce (Cress Williams) is a man wrestling with a secret. As the father of two daughters and principal of a charter high school that also serves as a safe haven for young people in a New Orleans neighbourhood overrun by gang violence, he is a hero to his community. Nine years ago, Pierce was a hero of a different sort. Gifted with the superhuman power to harness and control electricity, he used those powers to keep his hometown streets safe as the masked vigilante Black Lightning. However, after too many nights with his life on the line, and seeing the effects of the damage and loss that his alter ego was inflicting on his family, he left his Super Hero days behind and settled into being a principal and a dad. Choosing to help his city without using his superpowers, he watched his daughters Anissa (Nafessa Williams) and Jennifer (China Anne McClain) grow into strong young women, even though his marriage to their mother, Lynn (Christine Adams), suffered. Almost a decade later, Pierce’s crime-fighting days are long behind him…or so he thought. But with crime and corruption spreading like wildfire, and those he cares about in the crosshairs of the menacing local gang The One Hundred, Black Lightning returns — to save not only his family, but also the soul of his community.