It is a disturbingly familiar scene: a black motorist standing outside his car on a rainy night, arguing with the white police officer who has pulled him over for seemingly no reason.

As this moment plays out in the opening minutes of “Black Lightning,” the CW series based on that DC superhero, the motorist in question is Jefferson Pierce (Cress Williams), who stepped back from his role as a crime-fighting vigilante to focus on his civilian identity as a high-school principal and father to two teenage daughters.

Just when his roadside confrontation is about to cross a dangerous threshold, Pierce closes his eyes. When he reopens them, his pupils glow with angry electricity, the lights on the police car flicker out momentarily, and the cop lets Pierce go. Just a case of mistaken identity.

But in Pierce’s mind, he has decided that he must become Black Lightning again.

“Black Lightning,” which debuts on Jan. 16, shares its roots in the comic-book adventures that have yielded other CW shows like “Arrow,” “The Flash” and “Supergirl.” But where those other programs often coat their real-world commentary in layers of allegory, “Black Lightning” takes on issues of race and social justice directly and unambiguously.