'Black Lightning' brings the thunder on series premiere

George Back
·Producer, Yahoo Entertainment

The series premiere of the CW’s Black Lightning on Tuesday night, featuring a black superhero, was met with almost immediate praise on Twitter.

Our reluctant hero is Jefferson Pierce (William Catlett), who nine years ago thought he could do more good as a school principal than as the crime fighter Black Lighting. And while his being a principal has greatly helped the community, the loss of Black Lightning has given rise to a mob known as the 100 Gang.

When a member of the 100 kidnaps Jefferson’s daughters, Annisa (Nafessa Williams) and Jennifer (China Anne McClain), he decides to go after them. Donning a new state-of-the-art Black Lightning costume, Jefferson takes on the gang members.

Jefferson manages to rescue his girls but he also draws unwanted attention from the 100’s leader, Tobias Whale (Marvin Jones III). Tobias appears to be a pretty bad dude. He’s the kind of guy who would feed his men to piranhas if they mess up.

Tobias claims to have killed Black Lightning years ago, so clearly they have quite the history. And it looks like the two forces of good and bad are about to converge in all-out war.

But Jefferson may find a super-ally in his daughter Annisa. At the end of the first episode, she discovers she has super-strength. Looks like the Pierce family is about to clean up the community.

Black Lightning airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on CW.

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