How Black Lightning Could Bring Closure to an Overlooked DC Breakup

DC Comics can finally bring closure to a beloved, yet forgotten romance via the new Black Lightning series. Last month, DC released the first issue of the new Black Lightning series by Brandon Thomas and Fico Ossio. The issue set an incredibly high bar for DC’s all-new All In era of storytelling. It also presents an opportunity for DC to revisit some stories that the publisher forgot to finish telling.

Namely, Black Lightning can finally finish the romantic story between his daughter, Thunder, and her once-girlfriend, Grace Choi. Anissa Pierce and Grace were a notable item in The CW’s Black Lightning television show, but they originally have their roots in the comics, first starting in Outsiders #41 by Judd Winick, Matthew Clark, Ron Randall, Art Thibert, Guy Major, and Pat Brosseau.

However, their romance never reached a proper conclusion in the comics, though there may be a way for them to finally have some kind of closure in Black Lightning, thanks to DC Festival of Heroes: The Asian Superhero Celebration #1.

Black Lightning’s Daughter, Thunder, Was Once Part of a Fan-Favorite DC Romance

How It Started and How It Ended

Black Lightning’s daughter first meets the Amazon-Metahuman hybrid when they were members of the Outsiders. Their partnership was strictly professional at first, but as time passed, the two grew closer. Admittedly, their dynamic was mostly sexual and held in secret, but feelings start to deepen as Grace comforts Anissa once her father is framed for murder. However, in Outsiders #46, after Anissa admits to hating Grace when they first met, Grace says she liked her from the start, merely teasing her to hide a crush.

In Grace’s words in that same issue, “this is getting more romantic by the second.” Once they go official, Grace meets the Pierce family in Festival of Heroes, and while Jefferson plays a bit of hardball, he ultimately accepts Grace. Unfortunately, two years later, DC Power 2024 confirms that Grace and Anissa have broken up off-panel in the story “The Spice of Life” by Cheryl Lynn Eaton, Asiah Fulmore, Ruth Redmond, and AndWorld Design, as Anissa is struggling to control her powers and blames her internship and relationship as the reasons why. She opts to toss both distractions from her life.

How Black Lightning Can Revisit Grace Choi and Thunder’s Romance

Grace Meets Black Lightning’s Family in DC Festival of Heroes: The Asian Superhero Celebration #1’s “Family Dinner” by Alyssa Wong, Sean Chen, Norm Rapmund, Rain Beredo, and Ariana Maher

For fans of the relationship, the reasoning always read as strange, especially when Grace’s relationship with Black Lightning’s daughter always seemed healthier than her other classic hero romance. Such an unceremonious disposal of a romance with that much history reads as a slap in the face to anyone who invested time into watching it evolve. Thankfully, as Black Lightning puts a spotlight on his daughters, specifically Anissa, this new series could be the opportunity DC needs to give her former romance real closure on-panel.

Black Lightning #1 depicts Thunder at a crossroads in her life, lying to her father and sister about her whereabouts as she struggles with her powers, the reasoning behind breaking up with Choi in the first place. Grace herself has been reintroduced in DC lore, as she’s a part of the current Birds of Prey storyline by Kelly Thompson and Sami Basri. Grace is already active in DC’s current continuity, so there’s a chance that she could patch things up with Anissa – on-panel this time. If not, using Black Lightning as Thunder’s character study, DC has a chance to at least re-evaluate her breakup with Grace and if that door should’ve closed to begin with.

Black Lightning #1 is available now from DC Comics.