Black Lightning Season 2 Adds DC's Outsiders Character Looker

Update: TVLine reports Black Lightning has cast Sofia Vassilieva as Looker for season 2.

Looker - a teammate of Jefferson Pierce from the classic Batman and the Outsiders comics - will be joining the cast of Black Lightning as a reoccurring character in the series' second season. A recent casting announcement revealed that The CW is seeking an actress to play the role of the psionic superheroine turned vampiric vigilante.

Curiously, Looker's name was dropped in the first season episode "LaWanda - The Book of Burial," when library worker Grace Choi asked Anissa Pierce out to a superhero-themed costume party. Grace mentioned both Supergirl and Looker as costume ideas, describing Looker as a character who was popular with people who like vampires. It was unclear at the time the episode aired if Black Lightning was set in the same universe as Supergirl or not. Executive producer Salim Akil has gone on record since then as saying that Black Lightning is in its own universe and that the mentions of Supergirl and Vixen were just Easter eggs, not confirmation that the characters exist in the world of Black Lightning.

That Hashtag Show broke the news that Looker does exist in the world of Black Lightning and that the producers were specifically asking for "submission of star names" for consideration for the role. According to the outlet, Looker is described as being "a youthful looking woman with a soul that has lived for a long time, whose eyes are ethereal and whose look is penetrating."

First appearing in Batman and the Outsiders #25, the woman who became known as Looker was originally a mousy bank teller named Emily Briggs. Abducted by the emissaries of the underground city of Abyssia, Emily was exposed to the radiation of a piece of Haley's Comet. This triggered her metagene and awoke her latent mental powers. It also enhanced Emily's body to be healthier and more conventionally attractive, leaving Emily able to control the minds of anyone she couldn't charm naturally. She would join The Outsiders and go on to become one of the team's most steadfast supporters.

Later, Emily was transformed into a vampire, though her psionic abilities enhancing her body made her largely immune to the standard vampire weaknesses, such as sunlight and holy objects. Ironically, the experience left her stronger, as she was able to make use of the full array of vampiric powers (such as transforming into mist or various animal forms) at night. Unfortunately, she still had to drink blood in order to survive and she was susceptible to a blood lust that drove her to attack her teammates more than once.

Given that the casting description makes mention of Looker having "a soul that has lived for a long time," it seems likely that she will be introduced into the show in her vampiric form. This makes sense, given that it will be far easier for the show to introduce a heroic vampire character than run through some complicated story involving an underground city. It remains to be scene how the relatively grounded Black Lightning series will handle the introduction of a supernatural character like Looker. Then again, with the first season confirming that Tobias Whale's gang had access to true magic and street hustler Lala being resurrected as The Tattooed Man, introducing a vampire into the cast isn't too much of a stretch.