After attempting to bury the darker, devastatingly lethal Painhugger part of his persona, Khalil Payne has distanced himself away from everyone he knows and loves in a new city, Akashic Valley, in order to find peace... but peace never comes easy for men with pasts like Painhugger. As his unhappy, destructive history crashes his idyllic new beginning, Khalil is thrusted back into action with a new mission - bring justice where he once gave out punishment - but to do that, he will first have to deal with and harness his darker side, Painhugger.
Jefferson Pierce is a man wrestling with a secret. As the father of two daughters and principal of a charter high school that also serves as a safe haven for young people in a New Orleans neighborhood overrun by gang violence, he is a hero to his community. Nine years ago, Pierce was a hero of a different sort. Gifted with the superhuman power to harness and control electricity, he used those powers to keep his hometown streets safe as the masked vigilante Black Lightning.
However, after too many nights of his life on the line, and seeing the effects of the damage and loss that his alter ego was inflicting on his family, he left his Super Hero days behind and settled into being a principal and a dad. Choosing to help his city without using his superpowers, he watched his daughters Anissa and Jennifer grow into strong young women, even though his marriage to their mother, Lynn, suffered.