BLACK LIGHTNING reveals its title character in action!

Production has begun on The CW’s next superhero series, Black Lightning, and the network is showing off the look of their new titular hero!

Cress Williams stars as Jefferson Pierce aka Black Lightning, a superhero with the ability to manipulate electrical currents, control force fields, and even do a bit of flying. He hung up his superhero suit long ago in favor of becoming a teacher, but as times change– particularly when a star student joins a gang and his teen daughter dives into activism, Jefferson realizes Black Lightning is needed once again.

Sporting goggles and a beard, Jefferson Pierce stands out from the typical superhero fare. Plus, that electric energy is flaring off of him and we’re digging it!

“I was no stranger to violence, death, hopelessness or the feeling that no one cared about what was happening in my life. Comics were a great way for me to escape,” Salim Akil, who wrote the show with his wife Mara Brock Akil (Being Mary Jane), told Entertainment Weekly. “I was about 13 when Black Lightning was created, and finally there was a Black Super Hero that gave a damn about our neighborhood and our lives. Resurrecting him at a time in our society when a sense of hope is lacking…Black Lightning will be that hope. And in updating the suit, it will signal to a new generation that it’s time to harness and release our power, and become our own Super Heroes.”

The show is currently in production in Atlanta. A release date has not been set.