Black Lightning is the newest superhero show to hit TV and streaming screens and it’s not afraid to rock the boat.

The new Netflix series centres on the DC Comics hero of the same name (played by Cress Williams) and offers a visceral look at the American experience through his eyes as a middle-aged African-American, and that of his daughters, as they deal with growing gang violence and gun crime in their community.

Black Lightning ventures into political and social territory that other superhero series have avoided and that’s down to showrunner Salim Akil and Mara Brock Akil, who is a producer on the show. The husband and wife team have worked together on such shows as Soul Food, Girlfriends, The Game and Being Mary Jane but now they’ve ventured into comic book territory just as the hunger for more POC-led superhero properties finally gets satiated.

Salim took time out to talk to Yahoo Movies UK about his new TV series, its diversity and what the future for Black Lightning holds.

What do you think of people comparing Black Lightning to Marvel’s Luke Cage?

Well, I think anyone who is doing that, they probably haven’t seen the show. They’re doing that because they are black superheroes, black comic book characters and that is pretty much all they have in common. Their powers are different; Luke Cage is sexy and single and beautifully chocolate, but we have a beautiful man who has a beard, two daughters, an ex-wife and one of his daughters is a lesbian and he’s a principal of a school. If you strip away the fact that they are both African-American comic book characters then there really is no comparison.

You mentioned he has two daughters (Nafessa Williams and China Anne McClain), who also have powers, which is rather uncommon in screen adaptations of superhero properties: that being superwomen of colour. Were they always going to be such a major part of the series?

I think you’re aware of the girls, his daughters even in the comics they have powers. I certainly wasn’t going to take that away. Considering that I have children, I have daughters, strong women in my life as well, I wanted to be able to use those characters to sort of examine not only what it is to be a young woman of colour, but also a young woman of colour who happens to be a lesbian and also what it is to be a woman of colour as a teenager. To have them with powers is empowering for young girls and boys to see. I think that those images and those storylines will help people’s understanding, in an entertaining way, of what is going on around them.

Could there be a Thunder and Lightning spin-off?

Not yet, but you know anything is possible.

Cress Williams plays the titular hero while Nafessa Williams and China Anne McClain play his daughters Anissa and Jennifer (Netflix) More

While some superhero and sci-fi shows use allegory to make political or social comments, Black Lightning is explicit about the experience of black America. Do you think more shows should deal with these kind of issues more bluntly?

As an artist I write, and I do, what I know, and what creatively comes out of me, and I think that other artists should do the same thing. If you find it easier or compelling to have a conversation about space and aliens I’m all for that. We’ve got some really good movies and shows because of that. Even in music with George Clinton, who spent his whole life in space through his funkadelic music. There should be no sort of mandate of how you should approach these things, it should be the creator’s preference.

Some people have complained that the show is anti-white. What do you say to those naysayers?

That’s silly, I don’t have time for that. It’s a silly concept. I think if you watch the show it becomes almost fantastical for someone to make a comment like that. Just because I’m doing something that illuminates the black experience does not make it anti-white, it makes it different from they are used to, but it’s silly to have that opinion.

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