The first African-American superhero from DC and CW is finally here. Jefferson Pierce aka "Black Lightning" will be played by Cress Williams, who is famous for playing detective Ed Williams in "Close to Home" and hitman Wyatt in "Prison Break."
The first image of the production has been released. The DC drama pilot is presently being shot for its pilot in Atlanta. The story of Black Lightning has a lot to do with his daughter, who is determined to have justice. A local gang recruits the star student. Even though Jefferson made a choice long back to hand up the superhero suit, he is back to the fight again for his daughter.
Salim Akil, who has cowritten the pilot with Mara Brock and also directing it, said he used his knowledge of Richmond, California to create Black Lightening's world. It was the place where he grew up as a young boy and got exposed to hopelessness, violence, and death. It was a time when he felt nobody cared about his life. According to him, this comic superhero is a great way for him to escape from that feeling.
"I was about 13 when Black Lightning was created, and finally there was a Black Super Hero that gave a damn about our neighborhood and our lives," Deadline quoted Akil as saying. "Resurrecting him at a time in our society when a sense of hope is lacking...Black Lightning will be that hope."
Laura Jean Shannon has created the new costume for the superhero. Shannon has created costumes for successful productions like "Iron Man," "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World" and "The Jungle Book."
Black Lightning was originally created as a DC superhero in 1977. Even though this is the first African-American lead for CW's live-action DC presentation, it is not the first black lead for the network. It earlier developed an animated digital series for its CWSeed platform with Vixen starring in it, Mashable reported.
