Black Lightning is finally joining the Arrowverse. This DC superhero show was originally developed for FOX, but when that network passed, The CW picked it up, but because it was intended to air on a different network, it was not integrated into the existing shared universe. But at long last, the character and his star, Cress Williams, is diving into the Arrowverse as part of the upcoming crossover event, “Crisis on Infinite Earths.”
However, because the production of ‘Black Lightning’ is so different from the other shows, there were some things that took getting used to. As Williams told Entertainment Weekly:
“They were pretty envious [of] my mask [and] the way it fits to my face. They glue magnets around my face and there are magnets in the mask, so it’s magnetic. It allows me to peel it off in between takes. I had a moment when Elongated Man [Hartley Sawyer] saw my mask and his mouth dropped and he was like, ‘What? Dude, when they put this on my face, they glue it on, and I have to keep it on all day. They said that’s the only way it can be done.’”
As for how his character fits into the story, Williams teased:
“Black Lightning gets pulled into the conflict in a very surprising way. He’s not prepared for it, so, he doesn’t know these people. He’s getting introduced into the world for the very first time, and so there’s some conflict early on when he’s trying to figure out, who are you people and why am I here? He’s kind of left off-center, which was really fun to play.”
“Once we did that, it felt like we had elevated the crossover to another level. Black Lightning’s in it much more than we ever anticipated, and he’s in it in a very significant way. That’s something we worked very closely with the team at Black Lightning because the attitude among all of us, and I don’t want to speak for the Black Lightning folks, was if we’re going to bring Black Lightning into the crossover, it can’t just be for a cameo. It has to be in a way that feels significant while still, of course, dealing with our time and space limitations.“For me, the highlight is a scene with him and Grant Gustin that is so emotional, it’s so affecting, [that] it really justifies why these two characters are sharing the screen together. It’s a very spoiler-ish scene, but both Grant and Cress just knock it straight out of the park.”
“I hope it’s not a one-off thing. [Actors] wanted to come to Freeland, and I definitely wanted to come back to them.”
