We’ve still got a ways to go before The CW’s latest DC TV show, Black Lightning arrives on our screens, with its premiere set for a mid-season placement at the beginning of next year. Still, details about the show are already emerging at a furious rate. For one, we recently learned that the series will be separate from the likes of Arrow and The Flash and will not be part of the same universe. More importantly, the first trailer also arrived online last month while just earlier today, we heard about a potential future villain.
As if all that wasn’t enough for you, while speaking at the ATX TV Festival in Austin, Texas, Black Lightning exec producers Salim Akil and Mara Brock Akil have now revealed who the main big bad of season 1 will be. Salim explained that the villain in question, who’s named “Tobias,” is one of  “the most interesting characters right now from a storytelling standpoint.”
“Because we’re not having him sort of twist his mustache,” he explained. “His hatred for himself and for others comes from a real place, so we want to know why he’s like that.”
Though we don’t know the character’s full name, it’s a safe bet that Akil is referring to Tobias Whale, a major foe of Black Lightning’s in the comics and the ring leader of the 100 criminal gang, a group that were mentioned in the teaser trailer.
Akil also explained that Black Lightning will have a completely different format from The CW’s other superhero shows. It might not even have the customary climactic fight in each episode and definitely will not follow the usual villain-of-the-week structure.
“It’s a character driven show. I don’t know if there’s going to be a fight every week. There’s certainly not going to be a villain of the week. I don’t want to do that. We really want to explore the characters, even the villains.”
Akil’s comments make it a lot more clear why Black Lightning is disconnected from the Arrowverse, as it sounds like it’ll be a very different beast. It’s grittier, more down-to-earth and looks like to be more in line with Marvel’s Netflix properties. As such, we’re intrigued to see how it all plays out when the show finally arrives in 2018.
