Though Black Lightning is viewed as one of the most underrated shows in the Arrowverse, it has the highest score on Rotten Tomatoes (92%). The series stands out for having a larger variety of superpowered individuals who serve as supporting characters. Even though Jefferson Pierce aka Black Lightning gets most of the screen time, he isn’t the only gifted individual roaming around Freeland.
The reason there are many metahumans in Freeland is that back in the ’80s, the government gave citizens of the town a vaccine meant to make them calm and refrain from committing crimes. Instead, the vaccine gave them powers. Other metahumans have gotten their powers from a drug known as Green Light as well as other lab-manufactured serums.
Grace Choi
Annisa’s long-time love interest Grace Choi has the ability to shape-shift as she can turn into a man or an animal. This enables her to conduct dangerous missions without being noticed. Her skin and eye color also change regularly.
Unfortunately, Choi’s powers have proven to be unstable. She is unable to control the changes to her eyes and skin unless she takes pills. She also cannot shape-shift when she is feeling overwhelmed or stressed. For this reason, her powers have failed when she needed them the most.
Issa Williams
Issa gets his powers by abusing the Green Light drug. As a metahuman, he is capable of extracting the truth out of any person. He does this by simply maintaining eye contact with the person. This makes him an alternative to torture or rigorous questioning.
Sadly, Issa gets captured by A.S.A’s Agent Odell who keeps him in a pod and uses him to conduct his own personal missions. Odell later murders Issa after Tobias tells him what he found in Martin Proctor’s briefcase. In this world, death is never the end of a character, so Issa can be expected to return soon.
Baron aka T.C
T.C. is initially one of the metahumans being experimented on by the A.S.A agency. When he escapes, Gambi offers him shelter and mentors him. He soon proves to be a reliable ally to Jefferson Pierce and his family.
Baron has the special power of Technopathy. He can remotely manipulate and extract information out of every technological device on Earth. Using his powers, he has hacked systems such as the A.S.A.’s. While communicating with systems, he can also mentally enter them. This ability allowed him to build a firewall that saved Khalil from being destroyed by his technological alter-ego, Painkiller.
Tobias Whale
The overarching antagonist of the series manages to remain at large because he is often too smart for everyone, including Black Lightning. He is also ruthless and wealthy, which allows him to buy off anyone.
As a meta, Tobias only two main powers. His most notable one is the ability to remain young. He achieved this after taking the Longevity Serum. He is also extremely strong as he broke his father’s back by just hugging him. There’s also the time he pulled Piankilller’s spine right out of his body.
Annisa Pierce
Annisa is Jefferson’s more responsible and social daughter. Her unique ability is Density Shifting. This means she can increase her body mass while preserving volume. For example, she can make her hands heavier and harder while maintaining their size. This gives her a greater striking power than any other metahuman. It’s a shame that a boxing storyline hasn’t been introduced.
Anissa can also generate airborne-based shockwaves by clapping her hands hard. These shockwaves are powerful enough to knock out enemies to great distances. And like her father, she heals twice as fast as the ordinary person.
Latavius “Lala” Johnson
The high-ranking member of the 100 Gang has died and come back more times than viewers can remember. This is because he has the power of Reanimation. Not only can Lala resurrect every time he gets killed, but he can also see all the people he killed. Once his victims die, they become tattoos on his body and appear to him from time to time.
The latter is a power that Lala can boast of since no other DC character has it. Most recently, Lala has become a close early to Black Lightning, helping him fend off bigger threats.
Jennifer Pierce
Jennifer Pierce has powers that are almost identical to those of her father. Just like Jefferson, she has the power to generate and manipulate electricity, though her electrical currents are yellow compared to her father’s electric blue. This ability once enabled her to jumpstart Jefferson and charge his cells when he was almost dying.
Even when Jennifer’s body disintegrates, she can still come back to life, as seen in the latest season. The only difference between Jennifer and Jefferson is that she isn’t quite as liakble. She portrays the annoying teenage stereotype. At first, she didn’t even want to use her powers at all. She also argues with her parents and goes against their orders on a frequent basis.
Looker
It’s a shame that Looker hasn’t been featured a lot in the series, given how powerful she is. The Season 2 secondary antagonist posses the Element. This is a liquid metallic material that she can produce from her body. She then injects it into people’s bodies and controls them.
Looker also has a Wolverine-like power as she can make her nails longer and use them as weapons. The meta is also blessed with the power of Telepathy, enabling her to get into the minds of those she stares into. Like Barry Allen, she also has metahuman speed. Most importantly, she can absorb other life forces in order to make herself more powerful.
Tyson Sykes aka Gravedigger
Like Marvel characters Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes, Gravedigger is a supersoldier whose powers are a result of a government experiment. As an immortal metahuman, he has lived for nearly a century and was used in covert missions until he went rogue. He happens to be related to Jefferson Pierce too.
Gravedigger has a variety of powers, the most notable one being Mind Control. As seen during the Markovian invasion, he has the ability to make people do anything he wants. He can also render someone immobile for hours. As seen during the final minutes of Season 3, he has the ability to shapeshift too.
Jefferson Pierce aka Black Lightning
The series protagonist also happens to be the most powerful metahuman. Regarding Electrokinesis, he is better than his daughter in a couple of ways. For example, his electrical blast causes more damage than that of Jennifer. He can also absorb more energy without destructing, which becomes evident when he absorbs all of Jennifer’s particles right after she disintegrates.
Jefferson’s power of flight is better too. Like Clark Kent, he can fly to space and operate optimally in areas without oxygen. This is something no other meta in the series can do. There is also the fact that he can change his voice at will. Unlike Bruce Wayne, he doesn’t need special equipment to do that.
