Black Lightning season 3 is starting to heat up, and the addition of a new character should make it even more explosive. The CW announced Thursday that Wayne Brady is joining the show in a recurring role this season as the DC Comics character Gravedigger.
Leon Bennett/Getty Images; DC Comics
In this incarnation, Gravedigger’s real name is Tyson Sykes, and he’s a World War II veteran of the U.S. military who became a super-soldier after undergoing a secret experiment. This experiment gifted Tyson with enhanced strength and agility, tactical genius, and hand-to-hand combat expertise. Presumably it also gave him an increased lifes pan if he’s survived from World War II to the present in reasonable condition, but Black Lightning is no stranger to long lives. Maybe Tyson uses a similar kind of longevity serum as Tobias Whale (Marvin Jones III), who has fought Black Lightning (Cress Williams) with the same outward appearance he had killing the superhero’s father decades earlier.
But there’s an even bigger spin on Black Lightning’s version of Gravedigger: After fighting in World War II, Spikes defected to the country of Markovia rather than return to segregated America. His apparent goal has been to found a sovereign nation for metahumans within Markovia — a fascinating parallel to Marvel’s recent House of X and Powers of X comics, where the X-Men founded their own sovereign nation for mutants on the island of Krakoa. Gravedigger’s plan will put him on a collision course with the ASA — which has practically established martial law in the metahuman-filled city of Freeland as of the season 3 premiere — and Black Lightning himself.
Brady’s first episode of Black Lightning will likely air in early 2020.
Related content:
Black Lightning star teases Jefferson’s ‘big sacrifice’ in the Markovian conflict
Black Lightning puts Jefferson through hell in season 3 premiere clip
Episode Recaps
Previous
b+
S3 E1 Recap
Black Lightning season premiere recap: Freeland puts kids in cages too
By Christian Holub
b
S2 E16 Recap
Black Lightning season finale recap: Jennifer suits up
By Christian Holub
c+
S2 E15 Recap
Black Lightning recap: Burn baby burn
By Christian Holub
b
S2 E14 Recap
Black Lightning recap: Lala Land
By Christian Holub
b-
S2 E13 Recap
Black Lightning recap: Friend of the pods
By Christian Holub
b-
S2 E12 Recap
Black Lightning recap: Gone but not forgotten
By Christian Holub
b+
S2 E11 Recap
Black Lightning recap: Death in the family
By Christian Holub
b
S2 E10 Recap
Black Lightning recap: Knightfall for Khalil
By Christian Holub
b+
S2 E9 Recap
Black Lightning recap: One step behind
By Christian Holub
b
S2 E8 Recap
Black Lightning recap: Born to run
By Christian Holub
b
S2 E7 Recap
Black Lightning recap: Saving South Freeland
By Christian Holub
c-
S2 E6 Recap
Black Lightning recap: The strange world of South Freeland
By Christian Holub
b-
S2 E5 Recap
Black Lightning recap: Gone but not forgotten
By Christian Holub
b
S2 E4 Recap
Black Lightning recap: The Tobias Whale innocence project
By Christian Holub
b
S2 E3 Recap
Black Lightning recap: Meet the new boss
By Christian Holub
b+
S2 E2 Recap
Black Lightning recap: Confronting those deep, dark truths
By Christian Holub
b
S2 E1 Recap
Black Lightning season premiere recap: Freeland is changing
By Christian Holub
a
S1 E13 Recap
Black Lightning finale recap: ‘Shadow of Death: The Book of War’
By Christian Holub
a-
S1 E12 Recap
Black Lightning recap: ‘The Resurrection and the Light: The Book of Pain’
By Christian Holub
b+
S1 E11 Recap
Black Lightning recap: ‘Black Jesus: The Book of Crucifixion’
By Christian Holub
b
S1 E10 Recap
Black Lightning recap: ‘Sins of the Father: The Book of Redemption’
By Christian Holub
b
S1 E9 Recap
Black Lightning recap: ‘The Book of Little Black Lies’
By Christian Holub
b+
S1 E8 Recap
Black Lightning recap: ‘The Book of Revelations’
By Christian Holub
Next
