Black Lightning’ DC Superhero Series In Works From Greg Berlanti, Mara Brock Akil & Salim Akil

I liked the trailer a lot. Hopefully it will be another good superhero show on CW.

 

They originally said the same thing about Supergirl

 

I think I saw two reused sets from Flash

To be fair Supergirl was on a separate network. The face they were able to do the crossover was pretty great.

 

Do Black Lightning's powers give him any defensive capabilities?

 

In the comics, he can create electromagnetic force fields, although it takes a lot of concentration. Also an EM repulsion field that gives him limited flight capability.

 

Actually, they didn't. All that was ever said about Supergirl is that they weren't actively thinking about the show's relationship to Arrow, The Flash, etc.

Black Lightning, however, is a different beast entirely from any of the Arrowverse series in that Berlanti and his other production partners had little to no involvement in its development and are involved simply in a production capacity, similar to the situation that exists with Riverdale and that existed with NBC's The Mysteries of Laura.

 

Forgive me if someone already posted this, but I just found this description of the series:

http://www.cbr.com/arrow-flash-supe...-izombie-riverdale-season-synopsis-fall-2017/

Did we know it was set in New Orleans? I thought the initial descriptions put it in Los Angeles.

I find it amusing that the villains in the show are called The One Hundred, given that The 100 is another CW drama.

 

Hey, just a heads up, courtesy works in other situations besides posting something that someone may have already posted. You might try it.

TC

 

They're just The Hundred, sans One
Which reminds me, I gotta catch up to that show

 

It seems to have a very different pace from the other CW DC Shows. It's an older, already established Superhero doing a Dark Knight-style comeback. I think I'll love it.

However, the fanboy in me can't stop thinking how awesome would be to have a crossover. BL would probably bond well with Earth-2 Wells and Joe West, since they all share that good ol' "Dad Drama".

 

Good point. Although it's worth noting that the Arrowverse did retroactively fold in one show from totally different producers, Constantine. So you never know what might happen in the future.

Not to mention John Diggle and Quentin Lance. And maybe J'onn J'onzz, who also had two daughters.

Hey, if we don't get an in-story crossover, maybe we could get one of those non-canonical extended promos with the casts teaming up. Have all the superhero dads and dads of superheroes get together for a Father's Day promo or something.

 

Also, J'onn is practically a father to Kara and Alex. Maybe Jeremiah could be in the mix too. Before that, however, Lilian Luthor needs to free him from whatever Cadmus dungeon she's keeping him. I'm totally ready for a CW Superdads Special.

 

Are you saying that the future is not predetermined, then, or simply unknowable by definition? Please, we need a dissertation on predestination. And I'm not sure that you've covered Constantine sufficiently--we'll need an episode-by-episode summary of the implications of its existence in the Arrowverse, not forgetting an explanation of the actual non existence of fictional universes. And if you could manage it, a digression comparing the costumes of the live action Constantine and its use on the character Castiel from Supernatural (with a reference to Kolchak: The Night Stalker, just so we know you've been watching television since the beginning of time.)*

*Also explain that it is impossible to have watched television from the beginning of time, with the appropriate discussions of human mortality, the infinite nature of time, and the history of television.

TC

 

It was a good trailer, looks promising.

 

Why are you stalking Christopher around the forums?

 

I realize this may seem weird from the outside, so please read through the TAS Elements in the Books & Comics thread on the literature forum. I wouldn't call it "stalking" as it is limited to public posts on public websites. I apologize if I've bothered you.

 

You're not the first (or last) who will be rubbed the wrong way by one of those posts but trust me your efforts are better spent adding to conversations than going down this road.

 

Is this, like, a thing with you? Do you just find people that you don't like on-line and make moronic, snarky comments to them? If so, that is... rather pathetic. I mean, I've never met Christopher personally, but I can still guarantee you that he doesn't miss a minute of sleep over your nonsense, and the only person who comes off looking like an idiot is you.

In fact, just about everything about "TalonCard" stinks. A three-year old account that is only a "Lieutenant Commander" that seems to only exist to troll Christopher? Smells like a troll account to me.

Wait a minute...

Wait a minute!

Are you secretly OmahaStar? I mean, for whatever reason, Christopher has attracted some world-class trolls over the years, but OmahaStar was amongst the trolliest of them all, and this seems right up his alley.

 

I appreciate folks coming to my defense, but I don't want to be part of dragging these threads off-topic, and the matter has been resolved already by the moderators. So can we get back to talking about Black Lightning?

I have to admit, I'm not quite sold on Cress Williams yet. I would've loved to see, say, Roger Cross in the role; just based on the trailer, I don't know if Williams can be as charismatic. The bit with him laughing with his daughters was good; I'd like to see more of him in that mode, and just more of his acting in general, so I can get a better sense of him.

Although it's interesting that the trailer was narrated by one of the daughters (presumably the older one). I wonder if that means the show will be told largely from the daughters' POV. Certainly it looks like at least one of them has her own burgeoning superpowers; I expect that, as in the comics, they'll both end up with powers. Given Pierce's stated concern with protecting his family, though, I doubt he'll be eager to see his girls take up crimefighting. So that's a likely source of conflict going forward.

Hmm, so now CW-DC will have two African-American superhero leads who are named Jefferson and share the surname of another US president -- Jefferson Jackson/Firestorm and Jefferson Pierce/Black Lightning. All three presidents are unlikely namesakes for African-Americans. Thomas Jefferson and Franklin Pierce were ambivalent on the issue of slavery in opposite ways; Jefferson campaigned to abolish slavery but considered himself economically unable to free his own slaves, while Pierce opposed owning slaves but resisted the campaign to abolish the practice. Andrew Jackson had no problem owning a bunch of slaves and opposed abolition, but he was considered a relatively "benevolent" slaveowner by the standards of the time.

For what it's worth, Black Lightning was created in 1977 by Tony Isabella, and Jefferson Jackson (only a minor supporting character in the comics) was created in 1982 by Gerry Conway. I wonder why they both went to the same well for naming the characters.

 

Holy Whitesplaining, Batman! And misinformed, as well.

Sure, historically speaking, I can see why those 3 names would be "unlikely". But according to this list, Johnson was #2 in surnames among African Americans (627,000), Jackson was #6 (353,000)...so VERY common . So more likely they would have been named for a relative asnd/or someone "important". Pierce was # 248 (17,000), but right in the midst of the names of many African Americans I know (I live in a black neighborhood, go to a black church, my children are in a black school).

And since these characters have been around for over 35 years... any reason to really change the names? It's not like there's a push to change Clark Kent or Bruce Wayne, despite being dated names.

With Tony Isabella, ...Wikipedia says that Black Lightning was co-created by Trevor Von Eeden (an African American.. with some obviously unlikely namesakes) . I would hope Trevor has some input on Black Lightning's real name