Genre: Action/Superhero
Director: Steven Caple Jr.
Writer: Jimmy Ellis
Based on DC Comics characters
Cast: Trevante Rhodes, Janelle Monae, Thomas Haden Church, Norman Reedus, Ving Rhames, Harry Belafonte, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, Leon Robinson, Vanessa Williams, Thandie Newton, Kevin Bacon, Anna Torv
Plot: Jefferson Pierce (Trevante Rhodes) is standing out the front of his home. He walks up to the window where he sees his wife, Lynn Stewart (Janelle Monae). He sees her with friends laughing and having a good time, he rethinks saying something to her and puts his hood back on and walks away. Jefferson continues walking along the main strip of Brick City until he comes across an all familiar tailor shop, Gambi’s tailor. He walks in the tailor shop and up to the counter, no-one is there so he rings the bell, coming from the back Peter Gambi (Thomas Haden Church), is looking down cleaning his glasses, Jefferson smiles, Peter looks up and puts his glasses back on, Gambi stutters his words and rushes over to Jefferson giving him a hug. Peter walks to the front door and puts the closed sign up. He then leads Jefferson out the back and they take a seat as Peter asks where he has been for the past 5 years. He said that after the accident he had to leave, he went anywhere that he could forget and not remember the things he did. He explains everything that happened, with Mari and Zambesi. Gambi asked if he had talked with Lynn since being back. Jefferson gets up and paces, saying no, no, no. He explains that he can’t not after all these years. Gambi grabs him and calms him down, “After everything that has happened, she still loves you, she hasn’t stopped thinking about you, not once. She tells me frequently, she wishes she could see your face again.” Jefferson looks at Gambi with tears in his eyes, and nods, he gets up and leaves.
Jefferson walking back along the main strip of Brick City is wondering whether or not he should go through with seeing Lynn again. He remarks, has Gambi ever led him wrong, and then laughs and continues walking. Jefferson appears out the front of Lynn’s house, he breathes deeply and walks up to the door, with three knocks he steps back. Lynn walks up to the door and opens it still talking to one of her friends for a moment, then turns and looks at Jefferson, with his head raised. She lets out a scream and closes the door. Lynn’s frantic and her friends ask her who it is. She says that it’s someone pretending to be Jefferson, Jefferson is dead. Jefferson still being able to hear, says that he isn’t dead and he wants to talk. She walks up to the door and peeps through the eye-hole, she asks her friends politely if they could leave, and lets Jefferson inside.
Jefferson is sitting on the lounge, Lynn makes herself a coffee and pours Jefferson a glass of water as she remembers that he doesn’t like the taste of coffee. She hands Jefferson the water and starts to sip at her coffee in awkward silence, they both try to say something at the same time but Jefferson lets her go first, she asks him where he has been, why he hasn’t called. He replies that not a day went by that he didn’t think of her. Then says that he was away. She wants a straight answer and tells him to start from the start. Jefferson starts by saying, “After the accident.”
FLASHBACK: Jefferson is standing toe-to-toe with a man only known as Syonide (Norman Reedus), a hired gun. Jefferson demands to know where his boss, Tobias Whale (Ving Rhames) is. Syonide replies like a smart ass. Jefferson tells him not to push him and to just tell him. Jefferson gets ready to attack but Syonide pulls a gun filled with lord knows what chemicals and fires, the dart is headed for Jefferson’s bare head so he dodges, unknowingly, Jefferson’s father Alvin Pierce (Leon Robinson) was standing a few metres behind tracking his sons suit power. Jefferson looks at his dad and rushes over holding him in his arms, he screams and massive lightning strike bursts out and up into the sky. Syonide gets away as Black Lightning continues to scream and lightning continues to strike. Gambi runs over and comforts Jefferson and pulls him away quickly before the police come.
On the news is Tobias Whale, he starts to speak about peace for Brick City and how the only thing that can get that peace is ridding the city of ‘The Lightning’ Tobias continues and encourages the citizens of Brick City, to do something about it, to find The Lightning and to bring him to justice. We cut to the city centre where it is on televisions all around, the men, women and children all look confused however someone appears and lightning strikes toward scaffolding, the scaffolding falls and men and women are crushed. The people around video as some try to help but can’t lift it off them. Others start walking the streets chanting they want The Lightning’s head. Tobias on the screen tells everyone only Lightning’s last name, Pierce. The riot march to the home of Jefferson’s’ parents. They break the door down and start rummaging through the place, they then find Jefferson’s mother Leona Pierce (Vanessa Williams) and one man grabs her by the hair and drags her to the floor. The person, pointing a gun at her demands to know who Black Lightning is. She said crying that she doesn’t know. The man gets frustrated and his finger slipped, the trigger was pulled and the bullet hit her straight in the head. The rioters all run outside and back home, they say they would never speak of this again.
Jefferson, still upset at his father’s death, wanted to tell his mother first-hand what had happened, he walks in and yells out to his mother, to no answer, he walks up the stairs to her bedroom and drops to the floor, he crawls over to his mother, picks her up close to the chest and lets out a scream, lightning starts coming out but he controls it and keeps it in, he says over and over again this is my fault.
We cut to him frantically arriving at his home where he lives with Lynn and walks up to the bedroom, giving her a kiss on the forehead. He then writes a note saying that he needs to leave, and tells her to stay safe.
Jefferson is getting on a plane to Africa, he keeps twitching and rubbing his head. He starts crying and hides his tears. He walks off the tarmac and asks the taxi driver to take him too the most remote place he can think of. They drive until they reach a hut, Brother Tabo’s place. Jefferson gets out and thanks the driver, he is still twitching and crying. An old man (Harry Belafonte) comes out and asks if he is troubled, and introduces himself as Brother Tabo. Jefferson wipes the tears away and looks at him and nods. Tabo tells him to come inside and rest. Later Tabo asks Jefferson to do a job, he wants Jefferson to investigate a man named Aku Kwesi. He says once he has taken down Aku he can go back home.
END OF FLASHBACK:
Lynn thanks him for telling her what happened, that night. She never knew. All of a sudden there is a knock at the door. Lynn tells Jefferson to hide as she answers the door. Jefferson tries to say no, but Lynn tells him just to do it. She walks up to the door and opens it, standing in front of her is Khalil Payne (Quinton “Rampage” Jackson), and she greets him and politely asks what it is he wants. Khalil says that the mayor wants to talk and asks her to get in the car. She grabs a coat and signals for Jefferson to stay hidden. She walks out the door and gets in the limo with Khalil.
Tobias is shown sitting at his desk, in front of a photo of himself, he aims a gun to the shadows, and out steps Eobard Thawne (Kevin Bacon), with hands up, he says that the boy named Pierce is back in Brick City and he has come to make up for his mistakes. Tobias crushes the gun with his bare hands. Tobias asks how Eobard knows and why he would tell him. Eobard says that he is a trustworthy man and he knows his stuff, and he wants to take down Jefferson, but he cannot do it, he needs to go home. Tobias asks Eobard why he doesn’t just kill Pierce himself, Eobard replies saying that he will “need him and all of them in the future.” He vibrates his hand and smiles at Tobias, then speeding off into the distance, we see red lightning following him. Tobias yells, and calls for ‘Syonide’, he runs into his office and nods his head. Tobias tells him ‘The Lightning’ is back, he tells Syonide to finish what he started all those years ago. Syonide nods but asks where to find him, Tobias says, he thinks Lynn will know where he is.
Khalil Payne bursts into the office with Lynn in hand. Tobias walks closer and rubs his hands together, and demands to know where The Lightning is. Where Pierce is. Lynn says she has no clue of what they are talking about. She says she hasn’t seen Jefferson for years. He walks closer to Lynn and puts both of his hands on her shoulders and squeezes, slightly, she lets out a wheeze, and he asks one more time, where is Pierce. Through the window comes a lightning bolt and it strikes Khalil Payne, Jefferson is floating outside the window and he looks at his hands. Tobias yells at Syonide to get The Lightning. Jefferson is out the window and says, “A friend told me the powers of her people is called, Black Lightning. And that is me now. Black Lightning.” He strikes and it hits Tobias’ hand and quickly he floats into the building and quickly grabs Lynn. He strikes the chandelier hanging from the ceiling and it starts falling, Khalil pushes Tobias out of the way and takes the full force of the chandelier. He grabs a needle out of his belt, and inserts it into his bloody arm and is able to lift the chandelier with one hand, by himself. Tobias looks at the flying Black Lightning and yells, and squeezes a marble sculpture of his head.
Jefferson floating, not sure where to go with Lynn, starts frantically looking around while in the sky. He sees a familiar building and starts to go down.
Peter Gambi walks along the sidewalk and gets his keys out for his shop, he looks down at the door handle and it is broken, he slowly walks inside and turns on the light, looking scarce. He sees at the back of the shop Lynn sitting on a chair with ice on her shoulders, Jefferson walks through with a tea and hands it to Lynn, who is shaking. Gambi’s jaw drops and he quickly rushes over to check on Lynn. She tells him the whole story, and looks up at Jefferson as she says he saved her. Jefferson had to take all of his clothes off and get changed as “Lightening up” burnt all of his clothes. He tells Gambi this, and Gambi says he has been waiting for him to return. Gambi walks to his workshop and grabs a ‘super-hero suit’ he hands it over to Jefferson and says Brick City needs “The Light.” Before he could finish Jefferson cuts him off and says Black Lightning. He suits up. Gambi tells him to get the son of a bitch. But an explosion happens near the shop. Jefferson tells Gambi to take Lynn to the back. Black Lightning walks out of the tailor shop, and turns the corner, 4 robbers stop what they are doing and stare at Black Lightning, one gets on his knees and begs, Black Lightning strikes them all with his lightning and leaves them laying. He heads back to the tailor shop and Gambi had armed himself with a bat, but lowers it as Jefferson walks in. Lynn runs to him and gives him a hug that calms Jefferson down.
On the news, is Mayor Tobias Whale, he tells the people not to panic but The Lightning is back. He says that if all the men and women he supplied with jobs and houses wants to keep them they must find and bring The Lightning to him. We cut through different houses, and land on a woman’s face (Thandie Newton). She puts her head down and walks onto the stage of the city centre. She stands on the stage and makes a speech talking about the corrupt government and all the bad Tobias has done to the city, she also adds that she has proof that it wasn’t The Lightning who killed those people years ago, she has video proof that the man was hired by Tobias Whale. Jefferson sees this on the T.V but also sees Syonide and Khalil Payne in the background, he quickly leaves to get to the city centre. Civilians are looking on as Syonide and Khalil sneak up behind the woman on the stage, she finishes her speech saying the lightning is good and she can attest to this because she is a detective, Detective Denisse Sims. As she says this Khalil pounces at her but is stopped in his tracks when out of the shadows Jefferson appears and says his name is Black Lightning. Syonide tries to shoot a chemical dart at him but he dodges coming back with a lightning strike, sending Syonide flying. Khalil looks back and is pissed, he injects himself and yells. He then lunges at Denisse and grabs her and Syonide, however Denisse pulls out her gun and shoots Khalil in the foot, he feels nothing however as he injected himself with Painkillers. Syonide is up and shoots Denisse with his chemical dart, and Jefferson decides to help her instead of going after the two men. He picks her up and takes her back to Gambi’s as he believes he can help.
Gambi frantically clears a spot for her out the back on the desk and quickly wraps a piece of cloth around her leg where the dart went in. He says to Jefferson that he will need to electrify the leg only a touch to help get the chemicals out of her body. He doesn’t think he could do it but puts his hand on her leg. He closes his eyes and breathes slowly, the lightning corses through his veins and to his fingertips, it quickly shocks the detective and we go to Jefferson’s face who opens his eyes and breathes normally, we cut back to a beaker Lynn is holding with the chemicals in it. Denisse grabs her phone and slowly lifts it to hand it to Jefferson, she tells him that the proof is on there. He grabs it and thanks her as she passes out. Gambi and Lynn both tell him to get them, Lynn tells him to be careful. Before he leaves he watches the video of Tobias talking to a man about making it look like Jefferson killed innocent people. Jefferson leaves the tailor shop.
We cut to Tobias yelling at Khalil and Syonide. He demands to know what happened and how that woman got the footage. Syonide pleads with Tobias as he has him by his neck. Tobias puts him down and orders them to find and kill The Lightning, Syonide tells him he now goes by Black Lightning, Tobias turns back and stares at Syonide, as if telling him he does not care. Before Syonide and Khalil could leave, the news comes on with a breaking story, the news reader tells the viewers that she has the footage of Tobias hiring someone to pretend to be The Lightning. She proceeds by and shows the video. We see Tobias talking with a man and handing him a weapon, he says it shoots lightning, he tells him to shoot to kill, anyone. And he promises that he will be handsomely rewarded. It keeps playing on repeat as a huge mob is outside chanting that they want Tobias gone. Tobias is angry and yells at Syonide to stand on the balcony and shoot the mob if they get any closer, he tells Khalil to go to the front door and stand guard. Khalil runs outside as Syonide jumps through a window out to the balcony. Tobias grabs a glass of whiskey and sits at his table waiting for Black Lightning to come for him.
Syonide is on the balcony and yells down at the mob to stop or he will shoot, he aims the gun at them. Black Lightning rises straight in front of Syonides face, he lowers the gun, jaw dropped, and quickly raises it again, but not before Black Lightning can knock it out of his hands. Lightning places his hand on Syonides chest and shocks him, he goes flying back into Tobias’ meeting room. Black Lightning keeps floating through into the room and lands. Tobias looks him dead in the eye. Tobias begins speaking calmly to Jefferson who is fiery and angry. Jefferson tells him he is the cause of all that’s bad in this city, Tobias looks at him and laughs, and goes onto tell him what he has done to make this city thrive, Jefferson has none of it and walks towards Tobias. The door slams open as Khalil bursts in and goes straight to Jefferson tackling him to the ground. He starts beating on Jefferson and laughing, Jefferson tense reaches for Khalil’s head and zaps him, he staggers to his feet and kicks Khalil, lightning shocks him to the ground until he is visibly knocked out.
Jefferson stands to his feet seething with pain and gritting his teeth, Tobias tells him he is weak, he always has been. Tobias stands and walks over to Jefferson kicking him through a wall to another room. He continues speaking to Jefferson as he picks up a chair and smashes it over Jefferson’s back. He tells Jefferson to at least put up a little fight. He explains that he has been waiting to do this for a long time, ever since he knew that his mother and father died, he wanted to destroy the rest of his family, but when he saw Lynn she said that Jefferson had died so he decided to keep her alive. Jefferson looks up at Tobias as lightning flashes in his eyes. Jefferson while still being hit that a friend told him to never give up on someone you love, he says that anyone who touched his family will not get away with it. Tobias grabs him by his neck and starts choking him. It looks like Jefferson is about to pass out he is calm and limp, eyes closed. He opens them and a huge ball of lightning surrounds him and Tobias, Tobias flies out the window and lands with a thud on the ground, the mob cheers and runs to Tobias and begin beating him down. Jefferson walks to the balcony and yells at them to stop. The mob turns and looks up at Black lightning they back away from Tobias’ body and cheer for Black Lighting and they beg him to stay. He says that he is home. Tobias, Syonide and Khalil are all taken to prison and locked in solitary confinement.
Post Credits Scene: Post Credits Scene: Miss Pequod (Anna Torv) enters a room with shadowy figures. She explains how the world doesn't need another hero and definitely not in their town. They ask what's she gonna do as she smiles wickedly she says, "Offer the biggest reward for the city's newest hero"
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