Black Lightning Trailer Unleashed

He could only bury who he was for so long. The first trailer for The CW's Black Lightning is finally here, and it shows why the reluctant hero puts back on his mask and begins to fight crime in his neighborhood.

Black Lightning stars Cress Williams as Jefferson Pierce, a former vigilante who spent years keeping the streets and the schools safe while wearing a mask. However, his close calls fighting local gang The One Hundred were rough on his family life, and eventually his wife (Christine Adams) convinced him to quit for the sake of his two daughters. 

Years later, Pierce has kept his promise, saying that he has saved more lives in his new job as the principal of a local school than he ever did as Black Lightning. However, without the hero around to police the streets, The One Hundred multiplied. "The anger was just under the surface for all of us," says his daughter Anissa (Nafessa Williams). "The whole city was ready to explode." 

Recognizing that the city is getting more and more dangerous every day, Pierce decides to take up the mask again to keep his daughters safe using both his fighting abilities and his power to harness and control electricity. The trailer also teases the powers of his daughters, who eventually take on the identities of Thunder and Lightning. "If you mess with me, my sister, my mother, or the innocent in this city, you're gonna get lit up," Anissa says.

The trailer explains why Black Lightning won't be a part of the already established Arrow-verse. The series, initially developed for Fox, has a vastly different tone than Arrow, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow, and Supergirl. However, it also shows that Black Lightning has something new and pretty incredible to bring to the table. 

The series is being held for midseason, so it may be a while before Black Lightning takes up his mask again. While we wait, see how some big and small screen DC superheroes should really look based on the comics.