The DC Comics TV Universe is about to blow up when Greg Berlanti goes for his fifth adaptation to screen with “Black Lightning” joining the expanding mythology!
It would appear that lightning will strike on The CW — Black Lightning that is! The fifth DC Comics superhero to be brought to the small screen by Greg Berlanti and his production team including Marc Guggenheim and Andrew Kreisberg both of which contributed to the rise of Arrow and its first spin-off The Flash will be welcoming an outsider into their ranks when Black Lightning joins the network later this year.
Black Lightning will be based on the character created by Tony Isabella and Trevor Von Eedan who made his first DC Comics appearance in his own title in 1977. The heroes urban origins were significant important at the time especially since their were few lead characters in comics of minority decent. Black Lightning, whose secret identity is Jefferson Pierce was among the imprint’s first black heroes.
Wielding control over electric charges and able to toss bolts of energy, Pierce gained significant traction in popularity when he was recruited to join Batman as one of his Outsiders alongside other the Dark Knight Detective and the soul sword swinging Katana. Batman and the Outsiders went on to become one of the more popular books during its 1980s run. Although the group eventually went their separate ways, Black Lightning remained a constant and would join the Justice League.
It was first announced that Black Lightning had been picked up as a pilot to launch on FOX, the current home of Gotham a prequel series based on the Batman’s stomping grounds, and that it would not belong to the singularly connected “multiverse” appearing in primetime on The CW which includes Arrow, The Flash, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow and now incorporates Supergirl. We can now officially confirm that, Black Lightning will be premiering on The CW.
The pilot originally pitched to FOX has instead found a home alongside its other DC based properties on The CW and will undoubtedly play into the narrative establishing a combined universe, marking Black Lightning the fifth DC Comics based primetime series on the network, and the first with an African-American in the lead. The CW also airs Riverdale produced by Berlanti and his team and the sixth comic-based series that airs on the network.
With a dynamically engaging background Black Lightning has the potential to really spark things up. The synopsis for the pilot suggests that Pierce has long sine hung up his suit and given up being a metahuman vigilante, but he has a daughter that is dedicated to finding justice after facing down some local gangs, and it isn’t long before the Black Lightning must power up and come out of retirement to save the day!
The Black Lightning story is still evolving so we’ll be following up as more develops.
