In the first episode of Black Lightning, Anissa gets arrested for protesting.
The scene occurs in “The Resurrection,” the opening episode of the 2018 series. Anissa Pierce, Jefferson Pierce’s older daughter, is involved in a protest connected to racial injustice and police violence in Freeland. The demonstration becomes tense, and she is taken into custody despite the family viewing her participation as peaceful protest.
Her arrest helps establish Anissa’s character before she fully enters the superhero story. She is politically outspoken, protective of her community, and unwilling to remain passive when institutions mistreat people. The event also brings her father and sister into the episode’s police-station sequence, where the Pierce family’s personal concerns intersect with Freeland’s larger social conflict.
Viewers may remember Anissa’s later identity as Thunder and confuse the arrest with one of her superhero confrontations. The arrest happens before she understands or openly uses her powers. It is a protest-related arrest, not an arrest for theft, assault, or vigilantism.