Black Lightning First Look: It Runs in the Family

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 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.

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.

And the biggest surprise of this one may be that it runs in the family.

His daughters not only support him on his mission and its cause, but they are discovering they have powers of their own.

Whether it's speed or whatever is happening with her hands above (the ability to throw lightning?), this might be a family superhero show.

It will be the first of its kind on The CW.

Keep in mind that this will not be a part of the Arrowverse and will reside separately, although on the same network. Whether that will always be the case? Who knows?

Are you in? Get your thoughts out in the comments!