Cress Williams on Black Lightning joining the wider Arrowverse in Crisis on Infinite Earths

The premiere of Crisis on Infinite Earths is mere days away, and many of us are anxiously awaiting this epic DCTV crossover event. Among many other exciting developments, Crisis will mark the entry of Black Lightning into the rest of the DCTV family, and we’re thrilled to see him come into the fold.

Cress Williams, who plays the electrifying superhero, spoke to Entertainment Weekly about his journey from Atlanta to Vancouver to partake in the crossover. It would appear that everyone was super excited to have him on set and couldn’t stop ranting and raving about his superhero outfit.

"They were pretty envious [of] my mask [and] the way it fits to my face. They glue magnets around my face and there are magnets in the mask, so it’s magnetic. It allows me to peel it off in between takes. I had a moment when Elongated Man [Hartley Sawyer] saw my mask and his mouth dropped and he was like, ‘What? Dude, when they put this on my face, they glue it on, and I have to keep it on all day. They said that’s the only way it can be done."

Looks like Black Lightning is living large, huh?

The Flash — “Crisis on Infinite Earths: Part Three” — Image Number: FLA609a_0361b.jpg — Pictured: Cress Williams as Black Lightning — Photo: Katie Yu/The CW — © 2019 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

So we’re all thrilled to see Black Lightning — alter ego Jefferson Pierce — join the rest of the DCTV universe, but Pierce himself doesn’t feel the same. “Black Lightning gets pulled into the conflict in a very surprising way,” said Williams. “He’s not prepared for it. So, he doesn’t know these people. He’s getting introduced into the world for the very first time, and so there’s some conflict early on when he’s trying to figure out, who are you people and why am I here? He’s kind of left off-center, which was really fun to play.”

So why is this the first time Black Lightening has joined the wider Arrowverse? According to producer Marc Guggenheim, the decision to bring him in took place a little later than expected. Given that Black Lightning films in Atlanta and the other shows shoot in Vancouver, there was the distance to worry about. Happily, a solution was found.

"Once we did that, it felt like we had elevated the crossover to another level. Black Lightning’s in it much more than we ever anticipated, and he’s in it in a very significant way. That’s something we worked very closely with the team at Black Lightning because the attitude among all of us, but I don’t want to speak for Black Lightning folks, was if we’re going to bring Black Lightning into the crossover, it can’t just be for a cameo. It has to be in a way that feels significant while still of course dealing with our time and space limitations."

Heck yes, I’m so excited to see Jefferson Pierce/Black Lightning interact with everyone else. It’ll be the stuff legends are made of!

Once the decision to officially bring in Black Lightning was made, Williams flew to Vancouver to spend time with the other cast members, specifically Grant Gustin with whom Williams was going to work with the most. “For me, the highlight is a scene with him and Grant Gustin that is so emotional, it’s so affecting, [that] it really justifies why these two characters are sharing the screen together,” said Guggenheim. “It’s a very spoiler-ish scene, but both Grant and Cress just knock it straight out of the park. […] What’s most fun about having Black Lightning be part of the crossover is that Black Lightning has never interacted with our characters before, any of them. There’s a fun interaction between Black Lightning and Rory from Legends. Rory calls him Sparkles, which tickles me to no end.”

Will we ever see Black Lightning amongst these characters again after the Crisis is over? Williams sure hopes so.

"I hope it’s not a one-off thing. [Actors] wanted to come to Freeland, and I definitely wanted to come back to them."

Here’s to hoping that Crisis on Infinite Earths isn’t the last time we see Black Lightning with the other superheroes! Something tells me it won’t be.

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