Warning: The following feature contains SPOILERS for Crisis on Infinite Earths.
The tagline of the Arrowverse crossover event Crisis on Infinite Earths seems particularly fitting in the case of Black Lightning; “Worlds will live. Worlds will die. And nothing will ever be the same.” For all that is changing in the new Arrowverse, it seems likely that Black Lighting will be the most drastically altered series in the post-Crisis reality.
Black Lightning held a unique position in the Arrowverse until recently. Indeed, until the third chapter of Crisis on Infinite Earths, it was unclear that Black Lightning was part of the Arrowverse at all, thanks to producer Salim Akil’s desire to have the show exist as an independent entity. Now it is one of three worlds (including Supergirl’s Earth-38 and The Flash’s Earth-1) that merged to form the central world of the new Arrowverse, Earth-Prime.
Sliding the world of Freeland, Georgia into the same space as Batwoman and Legends of Tomorrow may prove tricky given Black Lightning’s different take on metahumans and its history regarding their place in the world. Yet even with that logistical hurdle cleared, there is still the question of how Black Lightning season 3’s story can continue within the context of a larger world. Here’s everything that will change for Black Lightning because of Crisis on Infinite Earths.
Black Lightning’s Take On Metahumans
One factor that makes integrating Black Lighting into the larger Arrowverse difficult is how differently the show has portrayed metahumans. On Earth-1, the existence of metahumans was widely known after the first season of The Flash and most of them were created following the explosion of STAR Labs’ particle accelerator. By contrast, metahumans in the reality of Black Lightning were much rarer and all of them had seemingly been created through the American Security Agency (ASA) and their experiments on the public, which accidentally unlocked the secret of creating metahumans through a vaccine that was meant to make people more docile.
Black Lightning’s Unique Timeline
Another problem with working Black Lightning into the Arrowverse’s Earth-Prime lies in the show’s timeline. The ASA’s first wave of experiments with the metahuman vaccine came in the mid-1980s, with the organization abducting and cryogenically freezing the teens and tweens who manifested superpowers until such time as a method could be found to stabilize their abilities. More recently, the ASA revived the original program by creating a street drug called Green Light, which was based on the same active ingredient as their vaccine. On Earth 1, the existence of metahumans was a relatively recent development, with most of the world’s metahumans having been created following the explosion of STAR Labs’ particle accelerator on December 11, 2013.
How Black Lightning Fits Into Earth-Prime
Reconciling the two realities proved surprisingly easy after examining the full history of the original Arrowverse. While most of Earth-1’s metahumans came from Central City, it had been shown that some metahumans gained their powers independently of the STAR Labs incident. The first example of this was Deathbolt; a thief with the power to generate deadly beams of plasma from his hands and eyes. After Deathbolt was captured, Cisco Ramon’s research determined that Deathbolt had been imprisoned in Opal City at the time of STAR Labs’ particle accelerator explosion, leaving the scientist with no explanation as to how Deathbolt developed his powers.
Given that, it’s easy enough to view the ASA metahumans and STAR Labs metahumans as an example of convergent evolution in action. Both groups can coexist in the same reality with no fuss if it is assumed there are many potential triggers for the metagene. It just so happened that the STAR Labs’ particle accelerator explosion and the ASA vaccine experiment resulted in a spike in metagene awakenings within two distinct localities and the ASA was wholly successful in keeping their experiments a secret outside of Freeland.
Bringing the ASA into the American government of Earth-Prime would be even easier, as there were several secretive organizations within Earth-1’s government that had similar goals. Chief among these was ARGUS under the command of Amanda Waller, which may be the only organization even more corrupt than the ASA. Indeed, both groups made use of criminals as covert agents. (ARGUS had its Suicide Squad. The ASA had Shakedown and The Masters of Disaster.)
Ironically the biggest obstacle to working Black Lightning into the new Arrowverse is Jefferson Pierce himself. Used to operating on his own, Jeff isn’t much of a team player. He also isn’t entirely comfortable interacting with the public while in costume, after decades of working in secret out of a room in the back of his foster father’s tailor shop.
This became clear in the final chapter of Crisis on Infinite Earths, when Jefferson joined several other heroes for a memorial service honoring Oliver Queen, despite never having met the Green Arrow. Jefferson was a fish out of water among the other costumed crimefighters, still growing used to the idea that there were other heroes besides himself and that world-shaking battles between people with powers were commonplace in this new world. Despite this, Jefferson still accepted a place among them when he was offered a chance to form a team that would join forces to deal with global threats; a group that was not given a name, but was clearly meant to be the Justice League. Yet it still seems likely Jefferson will be reluctant to approach his new friends for help in dealing with his problems at home.
What’s Next In Black Lightning Season 3?
A trailer for the second half of Black Lightning season 3 revealed that little will change in Freeland, despite it now being on the same Earth as Central City and National City. The city will still be under martial law, with the outside world believing that Freeland is under quarantine because of some sort of viral outbreak. By contrast, the ASA has told the people of Freeland that their city is under siege by Markovian terrorists out to enslave the metahuman population of the city. The truth is that the ASA is slowly turning Freeland into its own private metahuman farm, with the intention of building their own army of brainwashed super-soldiers.
With the ASA aware of his secret identity and nursing a grudge after Jefferson made public stands against them in both his civilian and superhero identities, Jefferson Pierce and his allies in the Freeland Resistance have a long battle ahead of them. Yet the bigger battle for Jefferson may lie in holding his family together. His rebellious younger daughter, Jennifer, was manipulated into helping the ASA “maintain the peace” in Freeland in secret, violating Jefferson’s personal code against killing when she used her powers to destroy a Markovian terrorist server farm. The trailer shows this will be a major subplot, with Jennifer declaring that “I’m done trusting” after she confronts her father over his lying to her; most likely about his role in helping the Freeland Resistance even as he encouraged her to not get involved in the fight to save their city.
Jefferson’s other personal challenge will lie in reconciling with his ex-wife Dr. Lynn Stewart, who broke their on-again/off-again romance once more as she became increasingly obsessed with stabilizing the Green Light formula and saving the lives of the metahumans in the ASA’s custody. Unbeknownst to Jefferson, the reason for Lynn’s obsession has little to do with her personal drive and everything to do with her becoming addicted to a formula she derived from Green Light that enhanced her intelligence while leaving her more susceptible to the ASA’s subliminal manipulations.
Ironically the best ally Jefferson may have in fighting the ASA’s plans and saving the new Arrowverse is his arch-enemy, crime-boss Tobias Whale, who was taken into the ASA’s custody in Black Lightning’s season 2 finale. Earlier in the season, Lynn determined that a protein chain unique to Whale’s augmented physique held the key to stabilizing the metagene; a fact Whale used to try and convince Lynn to help him escape, arguing that there will be nothing to stop the ASA once they have a means of instantly creating stable metahumans whose powers don’t slowly burn out their bodies. Of course Whale is more concerned with reestablishing his power base in Freeland than stopping children from being turned into superpowered slaves of the ASA, but for now the devil Black Lightning knows may be preferable to the ASA’s continued oppression.
More: Crisis On Infinite Earths: Who Is Gleek (& How He’ll Change The Arrowverse)
