If there's a superhero character out there, whether they be prominent or not, it's a good bet they'll end up in a movie or TV series at some point. Too many network are willing to toss everything aside to make room for more, especially if it's a project by Arrow, Supergirl, and The Flash creator Greg Berlanti. Now Berlanti has found his next DC Comics hero for the small screen, and it's Black Lightning.
Deadline reports Berlanti is teaming with Mara Brock and Salim Akil (The Game, Being Mary Jane) on a Black Lightning TV series. The hero's real name is Jefferson Pierce and was born in Metropolis' Suicide Slum, where he learned to suppress his metahuman ability to manipulate electric fields. He's been a key member of the Justice League and the Outsiders during his time as a superhero. That said, the classic Super Friends cartoon used an entirely new character, Black Vulcan, because of a legal dispute with Black Lightning's creator. Otherwise he might be considerably more popular than he is now.
The show sounds like it was ripped straight from the character's origins. Having hung up his suit and retiring from superheroics, he is pulled back into action by a vengeance-seeking daughter and a notorious local gang who have their sights set on recruiting a star student. The Akils will pen the script and produce.
There's no home for the series yet but would anybody be shocked if it ended up on The CW? With Luke Cage out there on Netflix it's blowing my mind as a fan to see so many African-American characters in the spotlight. I love it. Speaking of love, check out this classic SNL skit featuring Sinbad as Black Lightning. This is the first thing I think of anytime the character is brought up.
