Warning: The following feature contains SPOILERS for Black Lightning season 4, episode 5, “The Book of Ruin: Chapter One: Picking Up The Pieces.”
Black Lightning defied the 2021 Arrowverse trend of the superhero series not interacting with one another, by bringing in The Flash for a surprising cameo. While Grant Gustin did not appear on camera, the show made a reference to Barry Allen that was the first major sign of interaction between the Arrowverse heroes since Crisis on Infinite Earths.
Ever since The Flash first spun out of Arrow, the shared reality known as the Arrowverse has been one of the largest collective universes in television history. It became even bigger with Crisis on Infinite Earths and the revelation that every DC Comics television and film spinoff was part of a single shared multiverse. The event ended with all of the superhero shows on the CW condensed into a single shared reality, dubbed Earth-Prime, and a suggestion that there would be more interaction than ever now that Supergirl and Black Lightning were on the same Earth as The Flash, Batwoman and Legends of Tomorrow.
Unfortunately, whatever plans the Arrowverse showrunners had for more crossover events had to be shelved in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. This led to the various series becoming more insular than they were before, with Kara Zor-El remaining oddly uninvolved after the disappearance of her good friend Kate Kane. It also resulted in plans for a crossover between Superman and Lois and Batwoman being canceled. This made it all the more astounding when a recent episode of Black Lightning brought Barry Allen in to assist Jefferson Pierce and his family.
“The Book of Ruin: Chapter One: Picking Up The Pieces,” found the Pierce family rushing to save the life of Jennifer “Lightning” Pierce after she seemingly disintegrated. While Jefferson Pierce was able to absorb the photons that had been his daughter’s body and transfer them to a pod hastily assembled by his foster father and “man in the chair” Peter Gambi, this still left them with no way to reconvert the energy into solid matter. Gambi said the only thing that might be able to save Jennifer was a Hadron Particle Condenser, but there was no way someplace like STAR Labs could deliver one to them from Central City in time to save Jennifer. At the mention of Central City, Jefferson looked thoughtful and left the room, saying only that he needed to call a friend who might be able to help – one who could “get it here in a flash.” One jump-cut later and Jefferson was reentering the room, holding the needed condenser.
While this was an economical way of giving The Flash a cameo on Black Lightning, it would have been all but impossible for Grant Gustin to appear in the flesh, given the travel restrictions imposed by COVID-19 filming protocols. There’s also the problem of the two shows filming in different countries. Nevertheless, it was good to see the shared Arrowverse acknowledged in a fairly significant fashion.
