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'Black Lightning' season 3 may introduce Geo-Force and the Outsiders in the upcoming war against Markovia

In the comics, the Outsiders are a team of heroes who work outside of the mainstream superhero community. Formed by Batman, the line-up of the team has changed a lot of times but the most famous version of the team consists of Black Lightning, Metamorpho, Katana, Geo-Force, Halo and Looker.

The Pierce family is going to be in a world of trouble in ‘Black Lightning’ season 3. In the finale of the last season, Jefferson Pierce aka Black Lightning (Cress Williams) and his family were recruited by the enigmatic Agent Odell to fight off an invasion by the nation of Markovia.

The Markovians have their own army of meta-humans who are going to rip Jefferson’s hometown of Freeland apart so Black Lightning is going to need an army of his own. This is where the Outsiders come in.

In the comics, the Outsiders are a team of heroes who work outside of the mainstream superhero community. Formed by Batman, the line-up of the team has changed a lot of times but the most famous version of the team consisted of Black Lightning, Metamorpho, Katana, Geo-Force, Halo and Looker.

A version of the team, including Halo and Geo-Force along with others, has also been featured in the latest season of 'Young Justice'. Besides Black Lightning, his daughter Anissa Pierce aka Thunder (Nafessa Williams) has also been a part of the team in the comics.

The Outsiders are usually shown as a black-ops taskforce, making them the ideal team to assist Jefferson and the CIA in their secret war against Markovia. The Outsiders have had ties to Markovia in the comics. In fact, at least one version of the team was formed in the context of a Markovian civil war.

The comics-version of Geo-Force is a Markovian prince who joins the team to help free his country from the clutches of the villainous Baron Bedlam. Geo-Force, whose real name is Brion Markov, got his ability to manipulate lava and gravity after being experimented on by Dr. Helga Jace, a character who has already been portrayed by Jennifer Riker on the show, so chances are he may be introduced in season 3.

We’ll probably be seeing a somewhat different version of the team on the show as many of the characters don’t have versions who have been introduced in the series yet. Katana has been portrayed by Rila Fukushima in ‘Arrow’ and is expected to return to the show for its final season but it’s not clear whether a version of the character exists in the universe of ‘Black Lightning’, which is separate from the other Arrowverse shows.

If the Outsiders do form in ‘Black Lightning’, we can expect it to be a CIA team led by Black Lightning and featuring Thunder and Jefferson's younger daughter Jennifer Pierce aka Lightning (China Anne McClain). Jennifer's boyfriend Khalil Payne aka Painkiller (Jordan Calloway), who was revealed to be in CIA custody in season 2 after his apparent death, may also be a part of the team. 

Anissa’s girlfriend Grace Choi (Chantal Thuy) would also be an excellent addition as her shapeshifting abilities would be invaluable for covert operations. Marvin ‘Krondon’ Jones III, who plays the villain Tobias Whale on the show, has teased that the new season may see Tobias and Jefferson becoming uneasy allies against the Markovians, which suggests that he too may be a part of the team. 

Of course, whether the Outsiders form or not and what line-up may be featured are questions that will only be answered once the season begins to air. What we do know right now, is that Black Lightning and his family are going to need all the help they can get in their upcoming war, which may rip the family and their hometown apart.

‘Black Lightning’ season 3 is scheduled to premiere on the CW on October 7 at 9 p.m. ET.