Black Lightning Star Says She Has 'Special Gifts' Not Super Powers

Though she might not have powers, Lynn Pierce - the wife of Black Lightning - will have her own role to play in the upcoming Black Lightning TV show.

The CW's DC TV Universe gets a new addition in 2018 when Black Lightning arrives. Black Lightning will try to widen the demographic and diversity reach of the DC Entertainment brand, though fans may not be all that familiar with the character of Jefferson Pierce/Black Lightning or the supporting characters that surround him.

One of those supporting characters is Lynn Pierce, Jefferson's ex-wife, who fell out with her husband over his superhero career. In the TV series, Lynn is played by actress Christine Adams (Tron: Legacy, Batman Begins), and ComicBook.com had a chance to sit down with Adams at San Diego Comic-Con 2017 and talk about how she fits into the storyline of Black Lightning.

In DC comics lore, three out of four members of the Pierce family gain superpowers (Jefferson and his daughters Anissa and Jennifer) - but Lynn was always depicted as a regular civilian. We had to ask Christine Adams how it felt to be surrounded by current and future superhero castmates without getting to suit up herself. However, according to Adams, Lynn has a powerful role to play in the show:

"I believe that being the mom is the ultimate superpower, so I'm not worried about that. I think you'll find that I have my own special gifts as the show unfolds."

Another castmate added that Lynn's superpower is "love," to which the rest of cast wholeheartedly agreed.

However Black Lightning treats its version of Lynn, it's become clear in the Arrowverse that characters who don't have superpowers are just as important to the team as the main heroes themselves, and Lynn Pierce will have had a lot more experience dealing with superhero life than the members of Team Flash or Arrow.

MORE Black Lightning News:

• Black Lightning DC TV Welcome Video
• Black Lightning Adds New Cast Members
• Black Lightning Comic-Con Panel

Jefferson Pierce (Cress Williams) is a man wrestling with a secret. As the father of two daughters and principal of a charter high school that also serves as a safe haven for young people in a New Orleans neighborhood overrun by gang violence, he is a hero to his community. Nine years ago, Pierce was a hero of a different sort. Gifted with the superhuman power to harness and control electricity, he used those powers to keep his hometown streets safe as the masked vigilante Black Lightning. However, after too many nights with his life on the line, and seeing the effects of the damage and loss that his alter ego was inflicting on his family, he left his Super Hero days behind and settled into being a principal and a dad.

Choosing to help his city without using his superpowers, he watched his daughters Anissa (Nafessa Williams) and Jennifer (China Anne McClain) grow into strong young women, even though his marriage to their mother, Lynn (Christine Adams), suffered. Almost a decade later, Pierce's crime-fighting days are long behind him…or so he thought. But with crime and corruption spreading like wildfire, and those he cares about in the crosshairs of the menacing local gang The One Hundred, Black Lightning returns — to save not only his family, but also the soul of his community.