Tag Archives: Black Lightning

Black Lightning’s Nafessa Williams Opens Up About Getting A New Girlfriend On The Show

Black Lightning’s lesbian superhero just got a new girlfriend – and the actress playing her could not be more excited.

CW’s new show, Black Lightning – which is available on Netflix) – just gifted it’s awesome lesbian superhero a new girlfriend – and the actress playing her could not be more excited.

Played by Nafessa Williams, Anissa Pierce is an out and proud lesbian superhero known as Thunder, who is practically invincible.

In the first few episodes, Anissa came to terms with her newfound abilities – a process which Williams has compared to coming out as a lesbian.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, the actress said her character, who is also a medical student and a teacher at her father’s school, was in a period of “discovery”.

“She begins to struggle with it because she’s learning these things about herself and she’s finding out about how these powers work and where they came from. But it’s one of those things [where she wonders:] am I a freak? Do I share it? Is anyone going to believe me? My parents are overprotective, how are they going to accept it?”

“It’s almost in the mental space you’re at if you’re coming out as a gay or a lesbian to your parents,” she continued. “It’s a parallel like that as well. It’s a secret that she holds onto for a while because she really doesn’t know who to talk to about it and how people are going to react to that.”

After revealing her powers in episode two with her destruction of a sink, the programme chose last week to casually reveal Anissa’s sexuality by showing her in bed with her girlfriend Chenoa.

They kissed, they talked, they argued and they generally acted like a normal couple.

But Anissa’s love life is about to get a whole lot more complicated, it seems.

Grace Choi, played by Pretty Little Liars actress Chantal Thuy, will be introduced as Anissa’s girlfriend at some point in the series.

In the comics, half-Amazonian, Asian-American Grace is bisexual, and there seems to be no reason to doubt she will be in the show as well.

Williams said Anissa and Grace “have a lot in common. If you’re familiar with the comics, they were a group called  The Outsiders.”

And the actress said that Grace would help her character.

“She’s a peace of mind for Anissa. It’s pretty cool to be able to tap into that.”

A black lesbian superhero is a groundbreaking role to play, but Williams dismissed suggestions that it was in any way a strain on her.

“I won’t say that I feel any pressure. I believe love is love.

‘Black Lightning’ Is Bringing To Life This AWESOME Lesbian Superhero

When The CW debuts Black Lightning on January 16, they’re not just debuting a show about an all-black family of superheroes.

They’re also debuting the first on-screen DC canonical lesbian superhero, who also happens to be a woman of colour.

Black Lightning features the title character as a father to two daughters: Thunder and Lightning. And it’s Thunder, played by 28-year-old Nafessa Williams, who is set to make history.

Thunder, whose real name in the show is Anissa Pierce, is the eldest daughter of the eponymous superhero, Black Lighting, aka Jefferson Pierce (Cress Williams).

In the comics, she agrees to a deal with her mother and father. Graduate college; THEN you can become a superhero. While her younger sister, Jennifer Pierce (China Anne McClain), has powers more in line with Jefferson’s electrical abilities, Anissa is able to increase her body mass while completely reserving her volume.

And there’s even more for LGBT fans to get excited about. Just like in the comics, Thunder’s getting a love interest.

Played by Pretty Little Liars actress Chantal Thuy, the half-Amazonian, Asian-American Grace Choi will feature in the show as Anissa’s girlfriend.

In the comics, Grace is bisexual, and there seems to be no reason to doubt she will be in the show as well.

Another show currently on TV to feature a lesbian superhero is Marvel’s Runaways, in which one of the main characters – Karolina Dean – slowly realises her sexuality.

Last year, Thor: Ragnarok included Valkyrie, a bisexual superhero and woman of colour – though fans were ultimately disappointed with the fact that her sexuality wasn’t made clear on screen.

Marvel also launched a comic led by America Chavez, a queer Latina teenager with lesbian parents.

The comic, called America, prompted an outpouring of support from readers who were overjoyed to finally see an LGBT Latina superhero lead her own comic.

However, Marvel also moved to quash speculation that two warriors in the upcoming film Black Panther will be in a lesbian relationship, sparking outrage and accusations of erasure.