The CW channel is about to get a little bit brighter. On January 16 at 9 p.m. EST, Black Lightning premiers on the small screen with a family of black crime fighters. As a wonderful and historic bonus, older daughter Anissa Pierce, played by Nafessa Williams, is making history as the first lesbian superhero.
“We need it. It’s been way too long,” said Williams at San Diego’s Comic-Con.
In addition to being beautiful and just plain fierce, Pierce is, in more ways than one, a strong black woman. She creates powerful and thunderous shock waves, hence her pseudonym, and can increase her mass without growing in size. This ability allows her body to become dense and bulletproof.
Pierce will be living out and proud in the series and will even have a love interest. Pretty Little Liars‘ Chantal Thuy plays Grace Choi, a bisexual, half-Amazonian, half-Asian-American bartender who catches the superhero’s eye.
Both characters will address issues of diversity and representation in the superhero universe. It is not often that black and queer comic book fans see people who look like them.
Just in case you can’t wait until then, take a peek at the show’s thunderously amazing, melanin-filled trailer.
