Cress Williams Talks Black Lightning’s Powers in CW Series

Speaking with EW, who have revealed a new photo from the upcoming CW series, Black Lightning star Cress Williams opened up about what separates this series from the other CW superheroes, saying:

“What makes it different is that really we’re a family drama. The origin story aside, they don’t have the ties of a family that’s keeping them tied to reality. Our show is also just really dealing with a grass roots superhero who is not trying to save the world, he’s trying to save his community. The fact that he just has the real world ties make it different.”

RELATED: Black Lightning is Not Part of The CW’s Arrowverse

Williams also spoke about Black Lightning’s powers in the series and what he’s hoping to see show up down the line for the hero:

“We haven’t gotten into flight, which I’m really excited about eventually getting to that. He has the ability to have limited flight, and that’s the superpower I would love to have. He controls all things electrically based, along with martial arts and the hand-to-hand combat thing. Without getting into too much, there are things that the new suit provides that the old suit didn’t. It’ll be very fun, let’s put it that way.”

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.

Based on the characters from DC, Black Lightning is from Berlanti Productions and Akil Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television, with executive producers Greg Berlanti, Salim Akil & Mara Brock Akil, and Sarah Schechter. Black Lightning character was created by Tony Isabella with Trevor Von Eeden.