It has been a banner year for those who love comics and negritude, and now there’s even more to celebrate!
Black Lightning will debut on Tuesday, Jan. 16, at 9 p.m. after The Flash on the CW. The Wrap reports on the backstory:
As “Black Lightning” begins, Jefferson Pierce (Cress Williams) is a man wrestling with a secret, per Berlanti and The CW. 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 neighborhood 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.
And now he’s black, uh, back.
And at the helm? Being Mary Jane production company Akil Productions, in association with Berlanti Productions and Warner Bros. Television. Salim Akil (who is also showrunner) and Greg Berlanti, along with Mara Brock Akil and Sarah Schechter, will executive-produce.