‘Black Lightning’ Will Become The CW’s Fifth DC Superhero Show

When Black Lightning was announced, Fox quickly snapped it up for a pilot, putting to bed the idea that the CW would have a fifth superhero show on its roster. Or it did, except now it looks like Black Lightning will be arriving on the CW after all.

Deadline is reporting that the CW is taking Black Lightning to pilot, and likely series, you know, because between the four other DC superhero shows and Riverdale, Greg Berlanti isn’t working hard enough for the CW. Part of this is simply that being in the DC business has been good for the CW: It renewed all of its superhero shows earlier this month right on the heels of expanding the episode order for Legends Of Tomorrow‘s second season.

Refreshingly, the series doesn’t try to make Black Lightning young and hip: He’ll be portrayed as a character who hung up his jumpsuit a while back to be an educator. But his super-powered daughter, and one of his students becoming the target of a gang, drag him out of retirement and hopefully into his classic ’70s popped-collar look. The show wasn’t intended to cross over into the Arrowverse, and it might stay mostly separate from it, like Supergirl. Of course, that never stopped Barry and Cisco from popping in before…

[UPDATE: Variety reports the pilot order is official.]

(via Deadline)

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