Superman and the Justice League Give an Arrowverse Hero a New Mission Statement

A former Arrowverse hero is taking on a new role in DC’s All In era. The new publishing initiative spills out of Absolute Power, which saw Amanda Waller succeed in stripping heroes and villains of their metahuman powers. All In features a host of new series launching, including Black Lightning by Brandon Thomas and Fico Ossio. Cress Williams starred in The CW’s Black Lightning series for four seasons, with the hero taking part in its big “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover event. But with the Arrowverse essentially gone, fans have been lacking Black Lightning stories. Luckily, All In has found a clever use for one of DC’s premier Black superheroes. WARNING: Spoilers for Black Lightning #1 are below. Continue reading at your own risk!

One of the big things to come out of Absolute Power was the redistribution of powers. The majority of characters had their original powers returned to them. However, some had their powers either diminished or enhanced, or they received extra powers they never originally had. And in some cases, ordinary people with dormant metahuman genes were seeing their powers activated randomly. For these individuals, someone has to step up and help them adjust to their new powers and how their lives are now fundamentally changed. Black Lightning decides he’s the right man for the job.

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Black Lightning and his family were directly impacted by Amanda Waller and her power grab in Absolute Power. Jefferson Pierce and his daughters Anissa (Thunder) and Jennifer (Lightning) were attacked by an army of Amazo robots when their powers were taken from them. The vision of Anissa and Jennifer falling from the sky is burned in Jefferson’s mind, which is why Black Lightning takes it upon himself to kickstart the metahuman outreach initiative for the Justice League.

One of the first missions features Black Lightning and Lightning rescuing a kid at Jefferson’s old high school, Garfield High. Police officers pin Isaac Mitchell down in a bathroom stall with guns drawn when Black Lightning and Lightning arrive on the scene. Isaac’s powers are starting to manifest and he can’t control them. Black Lightning calms Isaac down and takes him up to the Justice League Watchtower. After giving Isaac a tour and having Blue Beetle run some tests, Black Lightning meets up with Superman.

The Man of Steel applauds Black Lightning for being proactive, which is something the Justice League hasn’t always excelled at. Blue Beetle then gets an alert for another metahuman in need of help. This metahuman is riding atop a speeding railway in Suicide Slum. Lightning gets to her first, and after making contact, they both fall off the railway and begin plummeting to the ground. Black Lightning begins to have flashbacks to the night his family lost their powers, but he manages to save the new metahuman and his daughter Lightning. The big surprise comes when the metahuman’s identity is revealed as Anissa Pierce, aka Thunder.

It’s a good thing Black Lightning is taking on this role in the metahuman outreach initiative. It would appear Thunder is a casualty of the malfunctioning abilities post-Absolute Power. Whereas Black Lightning and Lightning both share lightning-based abilities, Thunder was true to her namesake by being super-strong and durable. However, now Thunder has yellow-based lightning powers. Anissa kept this secret from her family by spending time in New Orleans. At least, that’s what she told them. But we see she may have been secretly at home all this time. Black Lightning will need to use all of the resources of the Justice League to help his oldest daughter.

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