Greg Berlanti‘s adaptation of DC comic book “Black Lightning” has landed at Fox, which has given it a pilot production commitment.
The husband-and-wife team of Mara Brock Akil and Salim Akil are writing the project, which centers on one of DC Comics’ first African-American superheroes, first introduced in 1977.
The character was created by Tony Isabella with Trevor Von Eeden.
Black Lightning’s everyday alter ego is Jefferson Pierce, who made his choice: he hung up the suit and his secret identity years ago, but with a daughter hellbent on justice and a star student being recruited by a local gang, he’ll be pulled back into the fight as the wanted vigilante and DC legend Black Lightning.
The TV version of “Black Lightning,” executive produced by the Akils along with Berlanti and Sarah Schechter, comes from Warner Bros TV.
Berlanti is also the executive producer of four DC comic book adaptation series, “Arrow,” “The Flash,” “Legends of Tomorrow” and “Supergirl,” all on The CW, and he is also developing a big screen adaptation of “Booster Gold.”
The Akils signed an overall deal with WBTV in August of 2015, and have multi-camera comedy “Documenting Love” at ABC with a pilot production commitment for this development season.