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'Black Lightning' Season 3 will see Anissa forge a new identity as Blackbird in defiance of ASA

With Jefferson seemingly being kept off the streets at least for the first few episodes of the season, it looks like Anissa will be taking his place as Freeland's resident vigilante. The newly christened Blackbird may find some assistance from her younger sister Jennifer Pierce/Lightning

'Black Lightning' Season 3 is going to push the Pierce family into uncharted waters as they deal with being blackmailed by the corrupt government organization known as the ASA into fighting a full-scale invasion of their hometown of Freeland. With Jefferson Pierce/Black Lightning (Cress Williams) seemingly imprisoned in ASA's custody and the family's secret lives as superheroes in danger of being exposed, it looks like Jefferson's eldest daughter Anissa Pierce/Thunder (Nafessa Williams) is going to find a new identity with which to protect her city and fight off the sinister forces who are threatening her family.

The official synopsis for Season 3's first episode, titled 'The Book of Occupation: Chapter One: The Birth of Blackbird', reveals that with the rest of her family under the control of ASA's Agent Odell (Bill Duke), Anissa is going to take up the name "Blackbird" as a second secret identity using the help of the ever-helpful Peter Gambi (James Remar). While it isn't a name that has been associated with Anissa in the comics, the name has been used by a number of characters including a villain who once went up against Batgirl and the Birds of Prey and a heroic character from Grant Morrison's multiverse-spanning graphic novel 'Multiversity'. 

With Jefferson seemingly being kept off the streets at least for the first few episodes of the season, it looks like Anissa will be taking his place as Freeland's resident vigilante. The newly christened Blackbird may find some assistance from her younger sister Jennifer Pierce/Lightning (China Anne McClain), a metahuman with the potential to be more powerful than both her sister and her father.  

Here's the full official synopsis for the season premiere: "We find Jefferson Pierce (Cress Williams) like never before, in the hands of the ASA with his wife Lynn (Christine Adams) as Agent Odell (guest star Bill Duke) tightens his grip on the Pierce family, leaving Jennifer (China Ann McClain) abandoned and Freeland without Black Lightning and Thunder. But Anissa (Nafessa Williams) secretly defies Odell in her alter ego as Blackbird with the able tactical and technical support of Gambi (James Remar). Marvin Jones III and Damon Gupton also star. Directed and written by Salim Akil."

'Black Lightning' Season 3 will premiere on The CW October 7.