CRESS WILLIAMS OF ‘BLACK LIGHTNING’ FINALLY BECOMES A SUPERHERO

Cress Williams began to see his acting career taking off in the early 1990s, a time when Hollywood wasn’t taking superhero comic books nearly as seriously as it does today.

When that attitude started changing at the turn of the century, and heroes on the big screen and eventually on TV became big business, the 47-year-old always held out hope he’d get his chance to be one.

But with only so many black superheroes in mainstream comics out there to turn into liveaction adaptations, Williams became convinced that he had aged out of the possibility of being a superhero.

He watched as the few significant roles of black superheroes were “getting peeled away,” as he put it: Mike Colter became Luke Cage for Marvel/Netflix. Chadwick Boseman was cast as the Black Panther over at Marvel Studios. Williams figured maybe it was time to stop thinking super.

“I wanted to be a part of it so bad,” Williams said while in Washington, D.C., for the DC Comics event DC in D.C. recently. “I was getting up in age. I just thought, maybe this is a dream that just won’t be realized. And then (‘Black Lightning’) came along and not only is it fulfilling this dream of what I wanted, but it’s more than that. It’s telling a story that’s even more important in a package that’s even more (socially conscious) than I could have ever hoped for.”

Williams describes “Black Lightning” as a show with superpowers that doesn’t shy away from

PHOTOS CONTRIBUTED BY THE CW “Black Lightning” stars Cress Williams in the titular role. Williams says he always wanted to be a superhero on screen but thought his chance had passed.

Cress Williams is a school principal by day and a vigilante at night in the CW’s “Black Lightning.”