Milestone Comics was formed in 1993 by African-American writers and artists to create stories and comics about African-American superheroes. DC Comics was responsible for the publication and distribution of these comics. Static, the firm’s signature superhero, quickly became the face of the company.
Denys Cowan, Michael Davis, Dwayne McDuffie, and Derek T. Dingle, the founders of Milestone Comics, created this incredibly cool young hero with electromagnetic powers. Static is a typical guy who gains superpowers when he is fourteen years old. In numerous aspects, he reminds me of Spider-Man.
His popularity soars to incredible heights as the character connects with the public and adds more diversity to the comic world. As a result, DC opted to continue Static’s story even after Milestone Comics went out of business. Static went on to appear in groups like the Teen Titans and Young Justice after joining DC.
Static, as a character who has appeared in a variety of series and media, has had a variety of backstories and origins. In this video, we will go over everything and even speak about new Static content that may be released shortly.
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Static Shock: Origin
Static, originally known as Virgil Hawkins is the titular character of the American superhero cartoon series called Static Shock. The premiere episode which aired on September 23, 2000, set up the origin story for the character and showed us how a fourteen-year-old Virgin turned into a metahuman.
Virgil is a young high schooler from Dakota City who lives with his sister Sharon and his father Robert. His mother had passed away as a result of a gang fire. Because of this, his father was very strict about Virgil never becoming a part of a gang. His life is quite normal as we find him anticipating his school’s Homecoming. He also wants to ask his friend slash crush, Frieda, out for the event and is pumped to tell his family about it.
Virgil goes to school and chats with Frieda and his friend Richie. But just when he tries to ask her about attending Homecoming with him, one of the school bullies with a severely low-waisted jeans appears to ask Frieda out instead. His name is Francis ‘F-stop’ Stone and he is downright terrible at asking a girl out. Virgil tries to point that out but that brings him right under Francis’ fire. He pins Virgil to the locker and is about to land a straight punch to his face when the leader of a school gang, Wade, appears to defend Virgil. Francis got driven away and Virgil is saved.
Later that day, Francis gets a hold of Virgin in a nearby alley and beats him to a pulp. However, as Wade is reported to be in the vicinity once again, that too with some of his gang members, Francis and his boys escape. Seeing the sorry state Virgil was in, Wade later offers him to join his gang for his own protection. Virgil reluctantly teams up with them. At night, Wade calls him to meet the gang at the dock.
Virgil groups with Wade and co. and is handed a gun as the gang intends to take on Francis and his gang in a restricted area. And of course, Virgil is given the gun to take Francis out. He soon understands how severe this business is (especially with his mother dying as a result of gang fire) and throws the gun into the water but soon, the anticipated fight between the two gangs breaks out.
Virgil once again finds himself standing against Francis when police helicopters surround them to break the fight. The people begin to scream when they are hit with some sort of a purple tear gas laced with a strange chemical (later revealed to be the Quantum Vapor or the Quantum Juice in the comics), which causes a severely strange physical reaction in everyone. One person’s eyes begin to glow while another’s body stretches. However, Virgil crawls over a fence and escapes.
As Virgil wakes up the next day, he finds his blanket clinging to his body as if its life was dependent on him and it is not a regular static electricity feat at all. The lights automatically turn on when Virgil enters the bathroom and his electronic trimmer begins to work by itself when Virgil holds it up, despite being unplugged. He realizes he has become an electrical fuse and tells his best friend Richie about it.
Richie is impressed seeing Virgil’s new powers, which he has somehow learned to use within an hour or two and can fly on canisters and throw metallic objects around. He suggests Virgil to become a superhero and that is exactly how Static Shock is born.
He soon begins to work as a superhero and even helps around the school with their Homecoming preps using his superhero alter ego. Meanwhile, the gang members from the night of the fight at the docks had been hospitalized following their exposure to the mysterious purple gas. While most of them struggle to even hold themselves together while their bodies melt off, Francis realizes that he has pyro powers now and can practically firebrand. He uses these new powers to blast out of the window and of course, sets off to be a new meta-villain.
Virgil, Richie, and Frieda spend time at an electronics store when they find someone who begins to act quite sus. That guy soon mutates into a monstrous purple creature and begins to cause havoc. Just as Virgil follows him, Francis appears. He scares the now-mutant away with his fire powers and then proceeds to harass Frieda to go out with him once again. Virgil soon changes into his superhero costume and takes on Francis, who is now going by the name Hotstreak. With superpowers, he is finally on equal grounds with his bully, or so he thinks.
Virgil holds up well for a moment in the fight. That is until Francis uses his firepower to propel himself into the air and fly. He overpowers Static, not because of his superpowers but because Virgil gets mentally feeble by coming face to face with Francis. Just as Francis tries to go for his final attack with the fire, a bunch of firefighters attack him with their hoses, neutralizing his fire powers.
The issue with this mass mutation grows bigger and bigger and these metahumans are now called Baby Bangs. Afraid that he is now a problem to society, Virgil gets his vitals and blood checked. Meanwhile, his father addresses the city council, particularly the Mayor, over the situation. However, the Mayor seems to brush the topic aside as she seems interested in talking about nothing unless the topic is the budget.
Virgil and Richie find the Mayor’s behavior suspicious and begin to spy on her. That night, she meets up with a rich, old man while feeding the ducks. Their conversation confirms Virgil and Richie’s suspicions about the Mayor’s involvement in the purple mutating gas situation.
The old man, Edwin Alva, was responsible for dealing with the gas formula and his men were involved in this nasty business as well. Static tails him and is caught by his right-hand man York. He is trapped inside a tube from which his powers bounce right off. The tube also begins to fill with pressure. Static then overloads the space with his powers and the excessive pressure causes the tube to burst.
The next day, Hotstreak arrives once again and wreaks havoc around a park. He lights hotgods on fire and throws them at people. Naturally, Static intercepts him but can barely keep up with his barrage of fireballs. Ultimately, Static uses all of his powers against Hotstreak and attacks him with metal debris. Hotstreak reads the situation and runs away, prompting Static to follow him into a place surrounded by trees. He does this because he notices how Static requires metal to attack, so a place that is nothing but nature should put him at an overwhelming disadvantage. However, Static takes advantage of the fact that they live in a city and attacks Hotstreak by unearthing the sewage pipes that run underground. Sewage water pours into the bully and he is finally defeated.
Later that day, his doctor informs him about the tests, which do not signify anything that cannot be fixed by avoiding junk food for a while.
Another Mindblowing Static Origin Story From Young Justice
Static gets a new origin story in the animated series Young Justice, which does not follow Peter David’s Young Justice comic series. This show follows the adventures of young, teen superheroes, who are members of this group. Static becomes one of them in the season two finale.
In the fifth episode of the second season, superhero Blue Beetle or Jaime’s friend Tye goes missing. Meanwhile, the case with the disappearing teens gets investigated and the Alpha Team (which consists of Batgirl, Miss Martian, Wonder Girl, and Bumblebee) gets sent to a place called Bialya for their vision.
Turns out, that the villain with psionic powers, Psimon is active again and is working behind the scenes under Queen Bee to abduct the teens with other bad guys such as Mammoth, Shimmer, Icicle Jr, and Devastation. Batgirl gets caught captive alongside the other missing teams while investigating the matter so the rest of the Alpha Team soon arrives to rescue her.
After the fight has been wrapped up and the heroes think they have saved those who had been trapped, Queen Bee is still content as another shipment of teens arrive. And in this shipment, we see a glimpse of Virgil Hawkings. He was abducted while waiting at the Dakota City train station since he was on the way to see his sister. In this storyline, his mother Jean Hawkins is revealed to be alive as well.
Anyway, after Queen Bee acquired him as part of the second shipment, he was transported to a far-off base where he became the subject of several sus experiments. He was infused with the Meta-Gene as Queen Bee’s team wanted to verify whether this gene can be triggered or not.
Later, the Young Justice infiltrated the base and freed the teens who had been abducted. However, Virgil soon found out that the experiments conducted on him gave him electromagnetic powers, which in this series are shown to be bluish and whitish instead of the more lilac hue from the Static Shock series.
He was soon recruited by the notorious Lex Luthor who as usual, double-crosses everyone. He then trains under the hero Black Lightning, hones his skills, adopts Static as his moniker, and becomes a part of the Young Justice team.
The Electrifying Hero Just Received A New Origin In Milestone’s Exciting New Reboot
The comic line that had originally launched Static Shock (that is Milestone Comics) had dissolved. However, it was relaunched not too long ago. With Static Shock being their mascot-ish character, he is also set to receive a fresh new origin story.
In this new, revamped Milestones line, which is also called the Milestone Returns Zero collection, exemplary artists such as Scott Hanna (who has previously worked on the Amazing Spider-Man comics), Reginald Hudlin (who was involved in writing Black Panther), and Khoi Pham from X-Men will collaborate for the new origin story on Static.
A huge reason why Virgil Hawkins garnered a loyal following, was his nature as a relatable nerdy teen. He had a crush, he had a bully, he wasn’t a threat, and he was also one of the earlier African-American characters to become a superhero. All of those factors will be retained. However, the premise is set to change a bit.
Static Shock has often tackled some social issues. As a result of this, Virgil will be seen attending the Black Lives Matter rally as he genuinely believes in the movement. Also, he wants to see his crush who is attending the rally as well. Despite the activism, he is still a teenager.
At the moment, Michael B. Jordan is set to produce a Static Shock film under Warner Bros. The movie will follow the Black Lives Matter storyline as well, where the tear gas used on the protestors will replace the tear gas that caused the Big Bang and the other Baby Bangs.
What Makes Static Shock So Powerful?
The tear gas Quantum Vapor definitely powered up a scrawny nerdy kid to a huge extent. With electromagnetism under his belt, Virgil or Static excels at controlling and manipulating electromagnetism.
He can create an electromagnetic aura, amplify it, and attack using it. He can also use it to draw metallic objects towards himself or to direct the objects toward others. He can create these force fields and even levitate himself, often using a metallic flat plate to stand on.
He can even use static cling to cling to stuff, to make stuff cling to him, and to make others cling to stuff (kind of like Spider-Man with his webbing).
He can also manipulate technology. Basically, he does not need electrical circuits or plugged devices to use technology. Just holding them is enough. He can also create an Electromagnetic pulse, punch by creating tasers, and manipulate radio waves to overhear conversations from afar.
Virgil or Static is also immune to being electrocuted or mind-controlled. He can even energize the power ring of a Green Lantern, despite not being a power battery. He also uses a special tracking device and tiny grenades. The manhole covers that he used to levitate himself later get replaced by a proper Static Saucer.
We’ve kind of joked about Static immediately knowing how to use his powers before. But here’s the thing. He is a nerd. He is the smart science guy who knows a lot about these things. Once again, he is kinda like Spider-Man. And his understanding of these scientific concepts such as electromagnetism makes his abilities more formidable because he knows exactly what to do.
What’s Up With The Upcoming Static Shock Movie?
A Static Shock movie is on its way. It is going to be a collaboration between Warner Bros., DC Films, and Milestone Media. Michael B. Jordan is on-board as one of the co-producers of this movie.
As the comics are slightly darker and gloss over more social aspects, the movie is more likely to rely on it as the source material instead of the more lighthearted animated series. As it is, these movies generally tend to be more PG and PG-13, unlike cartoons that cater to the General Audience.
Michael B. Jordan, who has previously appeared in Fantastic 4 and Black Panther, has claimed that he intends to kick off a new universe that highlights black superheroes. This means that the Static Shock continuity might not follow the DC Extended Universe continuity at all and instead, give rise to a new continuity.
However, details about the crew members such as the director, writer, or the cast have not been revealed. Previously, sources believed that Jaden Smith was being eyed for the role of Static. However, there is no guarantee about that at the moment. If we are fortunate enough, Michael B. Jordan might have a role in the film himself.
Where Else Has Static Shock Appeared?
Apart from appearing in the animated series and of course, the comics, Static Shock has been present in films as well. He had a non-speaking cameo in Justice League: War. This Static Shock mirrored the Young Justice version.
Currently, two Static films are allegedly being developed. One of them is the live-action that will be produced by Michael B. Jordan with the other one being an animated film.
It’s great that an animated Static film is also being conceived since nowadays, a lot more mainstream superhero media content often focuses on live-action. But sometimes it is cool for things to not be too mainstream. The die-hard fans can gatekeep the more niche content about their favorite comic book characters that way.