The character drew much inspiration and was in fact designed to represent a modern-era Spider-Man archetype. After the closing of Milestone Comics, Static was incorporated into the DC Universe and became a member of the Teen Titans.
Static has made numerous appearances in other forms of media. The character has been featured in various animated series, including Static Shock, a version of the storyline made slightly more suitable for a younger audience, as well as animated films and video games.
Publication history
Static in his debut on the cover of Static #1 (May 1993), art by Denys Cowan and Jimmy Palmiotti.
An African-American teenager, Static was a key character of Milestone Comics, an independently owned imprint of DC Comics founded by Dwayne McDuffie, Denys Cowan, Michael Davis, Derek T. Dingle, and Christopher Priest with a greater representation of minority heroes. Originally developed for Marvel Comics, Static would become a main staple of the Milestone line. When initially creating the first five characters for Milestone Comics, it was decided that Static should be a teenage hero, similar to Marvel's Spider-Man.[2] Static's civilian identity, Virgil Hawkins, was named after Virgil D. Hawkins, a black man who was denied entrance to the University of Florida's law school due to his race in 1949.[3] The character's superhero identity was suggested by Priest (who co-developed the original Milestone bible with McDuffie), inspired by the song "Static" by James Brown.[4]
The character was introduced in one of the first four titles of comic books published by Milestone in 1993. His early adventures were written by Dwayne McDuffie and Robert L. Washington III, and penciled by John Paul Leon. Virgil Hawkins was fifteen years old when he became Static. In the comics, Virgil's family consists of his father, Robert, who works at Paris Island Hospital; his mother, Jean; and his sister, Sharon. Virgil attends Ernest Hemingway High School in the city of Dakota with his friends: Frieda Goren, Richard "Rick" Stone, Larry Wade, Chuck, Felix, and Daisy Watkins. In the guise of Static, Virgil eventually rescues "Rick Stone" from danger. Not unlike Spider-Man, the character has a propensity for witty banter and humor, especially when engaged with opponents. In addition, Virgil utilizes his knowledge of science and pop culture in various battles and scenarios as Static.
McDuffie described the character:
"Like any other awkward 15-year-old, Virgil Hawkins worries about pocket money, getting beaten up, and drugs. But recently, he's had even more on his mind: stuff like his powers, his secret identity, and drugs. Because, when innocents are in danger, and Virgil can slip away from class, the geeky youth becomes Static, the dashing, adventurous superhero!"[citation needed]
"Virgil is what I always wanted as a comic book kid growing up: Black Spider-Man. A good (comic-book) story can make you live it, feel it, and when it does, it resonates on a whole other level. It was so real world, and a textured story removed from the 1930s 'We are exhibiting the world'. I felt like it was drawn by somebody who lived in a building I could go into. It touched on archetypes as a comic fan that I loved, but also touched on my life as a Black man in the real world".[5]
A self-professed geek, Virgil is portrayed as avid comic book and video game fan, something that was retained for his animated incarnation. In the comics, Virgil regularly visits the local comic store, in addition to creating fan comics with his friends, and participates in HeroClix-style and other tabletop role-playing games. In addition, he has been shown to be an avid video gamer at several points in both his series and the Teen Titans.[6] In the 2001 miniseriesStatic Shock: Rebirth of the Cool, it is shown that at that point in time, Virgil is into collecting Pokรฉmon cards and he likes Pikachu (the flagship Pokรฉmon of the franchise and a fellow user of electricity).
In an interview, former Teen Titans writer Geoff Johns expressed interest in having Static as part of the team: "I really wanted Static on the team, but there's so much red tape there that every time I requested it DC said 'not yet' and so I never got to have him" and later stating he had plans for the character since Teen Titans #1 (vol. 3).[7][8] Any obstructions were eventually resolved and Static appeared in the Terror Titans, with his Milestone continuity folded in the mainstream New Earth continuity.[9]
Static joined to the mainstream DC Universe where he would be added to the Teen Titans. Static made his first canonical DC Universe appearance in Terror Titans #4, battling Rose Wilson in the final round of the Dark Side Club Tournament.[10]
Static was expected to receive his own series in 2011.[11] The series was to be written by Felicia Henderson and drawn by Scott McDaniel,[12] but was cancelled before the first issue could be released following the death of Static's creator, Dwayne McDuffie.[13] However, a very limited one-shot titled Static Shock Special was released in June 2011, written by Henderson and drawn by Denys Cowan. Batwoman artist JH Williams III provided the one-shot's cover.[14] A new series featuring Static titled Static Shock was launched in September 2011 as part of DC's relaunch after the Flashpoint event. The book is written by John Rozum and drawn by Scott McDaniel, who also co-wrote.[15] As part of an effort to better integrate Static into the mainstream DCU, the title takes place in New York City rather than Dakota.[16]
A new Static Shock digital comic series was released in February 2021.[17]
Virgil Hawkins as the teen superhero Static, as appeared in his original costume on a cover of his first eponymous series in 1994; art by M.D. Bright.
Doused with an experimental chemical during a gang war he was caught up in, high school student Virgil Ovid Hawkins gains a variety of electromagnetic powers and becomes a costumed crusader against crime. Like most teenaged heroes in the Spider-Man mold, he is often overwhelmed by the combined responsibilities of his career as a superhero and typical adolescent problems.
A resident of the city of Dakota, Virgil first gained his electromagnetic powers at a huge showdown between the gangs of the city, when he hoped to get revenge on a gang member who had been bullying him. The authorities arrive and release tear gas with what they believe to be a harmless radioactive marker so that any gang members would not escape arrest. The cops do not know the marker had been further spiked with an experimental mutagen called Quantum Juice (Q-Juice). This event ultimately came to be known as the so-called "Big Bang". Those who were exposed came to be referred to as "bang babies" because the Big Bang was their metahuman birth.
When the agency behind the experiment tried to capture him, he fights back, discovering that he has gained the ability to generate, manipulate, and control electromagnetism. Virgil names himself "Static" and, armed with his wits and powers, became a superhero. For the most part, Virgil keeps his secret from his family, but his friend, Frieda Goren, learns his identity when he attempts to protect her from becoming a prize in a small skirmish between gangs.
Virgil is aided by friends Rick Stone and Larry Wade. He shows romantic interest in his friend and confidante Frieda Goren, but she is involved with Larry Wade. He dates a girl named Daisy Watkins, but his 'responsibilities' as Static interfere with their dates too many times and Daisy calls their relationship off. In STATIC SHOCK: Rebirth of the Cool, Virgil is involved with a girl named Madison, but Frieda ends up fighting with her over him.
Static confronts numerous bang babies and other super powered adversaries: Hotstreak, Tarmack, Holocaust, Commando X, Puff, Coil, Snakefingers, Rift, The Swarm, Dr. Kilgore, Rubberband Man, Brat-atat-tat, Prometheus, Run, Jump & Burn, Boom Box, Powerfist, LaserJet, etc. Other Bang-Babies that Static has encountered include Virus, D-Struct and Hyacinth.
Static Shock: Rebirth of the Cool
In the mini-series Static Shock: Rebirth of the Cool it is revealed that Virgil has given up his superhero career as Static. He enjoys his time being a normal civilian again, but on occasion misses being a superhero where his friend and confidant Frieda gets him to begrudgingly admit.
Virgil eventually returns to his superhero persona after being persuaded by many of his fellow superheroes, including Blitzen and Hardware for one final battle.
After the final battle with a man named John Tower who is later revealed to have been the first and greatest superhero in the Milestone Universe, Virgil decides to fully return to his career as Static. Virgil then informs Frieda it likely won't be on a full-time basis as it was before.
Working with other heroes
Later in the comic line, Static is aided by allies: the Shadow Cabinet, the Blood Syndicate, and DCPD officer Captain Summers, who has a big interest in police cases involving Bang-Babies. Static teams up with Page, the sidekick to Kobalt, to stop a maddened Bang-Baby who had become half-fly. Static takes a moment to scold Page, who, in his opinion, seems more concerned with making excuses over their initial meet up than what was more important, stopping the danger.
Static ends up joining the unofficial group called Heroes. Multiple superheroes come together to protect the town of Iberia from a dam break. Many innocent citizens perish, but the heroes are still recognized for their efforts in saving the survivors and doing what they could. Static appears among the group, quips "You started the X-Men without me", and talks his way onto the team. Minutes later, the Shadow Cabinet, now corrupt, sends a death squad after a few of his newfound friends.
Virgil finally decides to see his family again after learning that a deadly virus has been infecting citizens of Dakota, including Sharon. After returning home, Virgil reunites with his family as well as Frieda, and learns that his girlfriend Madison has left him during his absence. He discovers that whoever created the virus is also selling limited supplies of the vaccine, and attacks the lab where it is being made. Upon breaking into the facility, Static is surprised and knocked out by Holocaust.[24]
After refusing to help Holocaust in his pursuits, Static is imprisoned in a specialized containment unit alongside Aquagirl, Wonder Girl, and Bombshell. Holocaust informs the heroes that he plans to kill them and weaponize their abilities to sell them, but is ambushed by the rest of the Titans before this can happen. Holocaust easily defeats them, only to be confronted by Cyborg, who has recruited former Titans Kid Flash and Superboy.[25]
The three are able to hold off Holocaust long enough for Virgil and the others to escape, and ultimately the combined might of all ten Teen Titans is enough to defeat the villain once and for all. After this, Virgil reconciles with Frieda and tells her that he has tricked his family into believing that he has taken part in a quantum physics fellowship, thus giving him an excuse to live in San Francisco with the rest of the Titans. He also makes one last attempt to win back Madison, but she silently rejects him. After this, Virgil and the other Titans decide to head home, with Superboy and Kid Flash as members again.[26]
After a mission to another dimension to rescue Raven, Virgil returns home to find that he no longer has his powers. Furious and scared over his situation, as well as his inability to help Miss Martian awaken from her coma, Virgil attempts to leave the Tower and return to Dakota. He is stopped by Cyborg, who tells Virgil that he will be of no help to anyone back home without his abilities, and tells him that he has arranged for Virgil to be taken to Cadmus Labs to find a way to get his powers back. Superboy offers to travel to Cadmus to support his friend, but Virgil tells him that the Titans need him now. Following a farewell breakfast, Static leaves for Cadmus, with Wonder Girl assuring him that he will always have a place on the team.[27]
The New 52
Static's 2011 redesign and cover of his second key solo series (Static Shock #1), art by Scott McDaniel.
Following The New 52 continuity reboot, Virgil and his family leave Dakota for New York after an unspecified tragic incident that, among other things, left his sister, Sharon, as two separate, identical entities.[28]Hardware gives Virgil a new costume and modified flying disk, which enables the two to remain in contact despite living in different cities. Hardware also gives him an internship at S.T.A.R. Labs as an after school job; he has Virgil posing as a prodigy kid that he (in his civilian identity, Curtis Metcalf) had recruited from the Juvenile Court System, on a commuted sentence, as his cover-story. During his first major battle, Static defeats the villain, Sunspot, and earns the attention of a criminal syndicate known as the Slate Gang.
Static Shock was cancelled as of issue #8 as part of DC's "Second Wave" of The New 52 titles and replaced by an alternative title.[29]
In Teen Titans, Virgil designs the cape and wing apparatus of Red Robin's new costume while at S.T.A.R.[30]
Later, while recuperating at S.T.A.R. Labs from a previous battle, the Titans seek Virgil's help in curing Kid Flash, whose cells Virgil discovers are rapidly deteriorating as a result of an alteration of his powers. Virgil provides Kid Flash with a new costume (based on a personal sketch for a variant of the Flash's costume) containing materials that realign his molecules while stabilizing his powers, saving Kid Flash in the process.[30]
2021 Milestone Returns
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (April 2022)
Milestone Returns created a new version of Static, combining ideas from previous Static comics and the Static Shock TV series. Several villains original to the series - Ebon, Onyx, Shiv, and Talon - were incorporated into the comics, and pre-existing villains Puff and D-Struct were redesigned to resemble their animated counterparts. Additionally, Rick Stone was renamed Richie Foley and given his animated version's powers and status as the superhero Gear.
Starting in Milestone Returns Issue #0, which takes place on Earth-93 (also known as Earth-M), 16-year-old Virgil Hawkins goes to a Black Lives Matter protest in the city of Dakota with his friends Frieda and Daisy, where the police use unstable, untested tear gas created by Alva Industries, inadvertently causing the "Big Bang" and granting several people metahuman powers. Curtis Metcalf, a long-time employee of Alva Industries, anticipates Alva will blame him for the incident and goes into hiding. Virgil is found unconscious after the Big Bang and wakes up in the hospital, being watched by his parents and sister. While he is physically unharmed, he stays home from school, getting used to controlling his new powers.
When he returns to school two weeks later, he sees the school bully Francis Stone, now calling himself "Hotstreak", harassing other students. Virgil uses his powers in front of other students to stop Hot-Streak, stopping well before an officer comes to intervene. When the officer comes to see what is going on, Hot-Streak says he slipped. Elsewhere in Dakota, a classmate of Virgil's, Darius, livestreams about the people who have transformed, being called Bang-Babies by the media. Meanwhile, a man named Holocaust starts building an army of metahumans.
In Static: Season One, the day after Virgil's fight with Hot-Streak, several students save for him and Virgil's friends believe someone else fought the bully. Seeking revenge, Hot-Streak attacks Virgil at his home, lighting it on fire. Virgil successfully keeps the damage to a minimum and defeats Hot-Streak once more, but his family develop concerns over his powers while he fears having to fight Hot-Streak again. Virgil contacts Metcalf, having met him previously during an "Inventors of Tomorrow" event, during which the latter informs him of a storage locker he owns. As Virgil explores the locker, the police arrive, believing him to be Metcalf. He dons a mask and suit, grabs as many items as he can carry, and escapes the police. Arriving home, Virgil modifies the suit.
After being captured by government armed forces and joining them in exchange for immunity, Hot-Streak helps them kidnap several Bang Babies. Virgil attempts to stop them, but is stopped by Darius. Hot-Streak and Agent Jones attempt to take Virgil from his home, but his parents bar the pair from entering. With the neighborhood watching, Hot-Streak and Jones are forced to leave empty-handed. As Virgil resolves to rescue the captured Bang Babies, Sharon provides him with glucose tablets so he can re-energize and an emergency line to her. With help from Darius, Frieda, and Ritchie, Virgil finds the facility containing the Bang Babies and takes the name Static.
Upon entering the facility, Virgil fights Hot-Streak, but is able to defend himself and restrain the latter. After Darius locates the Bang Babies, Virgil frees them, but a separate group of Bang Babies hired by the government attempt to stop the breakout. They attack Static, but he defeats them, convincing them that they need to work together. Sending forces to stop him, Jones uses an intercom to warn Virgil to surrender, but Richie discovers the location of Jones' servers, allowing Virgil to overload them while the others escape.
Days later, the Hawkins family reluctantly approve of Virgil becoming a superhero, with Sharon providing him with an updated suit. As the media attempt to spin a story about the Bang Babies attacking the government, Virgil hijacks the signals and tells the truth of what happened.
Powers and abilities
Static and Black Lightning discuss the differences between their abilities while facing an enemy (The Brave and the Bold vol. 3 #24). Art by Howard Porter.
Static's powers allow him to control electromagnetic phenomena, in particular allowing him to manifest and manipulate both electrical and magnetic energyโStatic's powers could be best described as superconductorelectromagnetism; the latter is one of the four fundamental forces of the universe.[27] Using electricity, Static can telekinetically manipulate objects and generate force fields.
Furthermore, Static is immune to psychic attacks due to his bioelectric field.[31] He is highly intelligent and knowledgeable in pop culture.[30][32]
Static also wields a Bล-staff and a special disc that he can levitate for transportation.[33]
Supporting characters
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (April 2022)
Static has a number of supporting characters, from best friends Rick Stone, Larry Wade, and Frieda Goren to sometime love interest Daisy Watkins.
Other versions
Static appears as a major character in the 2010 limited series Milestone Forever, a project designed to detail the final fates of the Milestone launch characters prior to being entering DC's continuity. In Static's tale, Virgil is retired and pursuing a career in medicine. Rick (now known by his television moniker of "Richie") is also now working as a director in Los Angeles, and is open about his homosexuality.[34] Ten years later, Virgil has become a doctor, married Frieda, and has two children, Larry and Sadie, both of whom inherited his electrical abilities.[35]
Static first appears as the titular protagonist of Static Shock. This version is a fourteen-year-old honors student at Dakota Union High School who lives with his widowed father and social worker, Robert Hawkins, and his sister Sharon Hawkins, a university student and counselor at the Freeman Community Center. Additionally, Virgil's mother, paramedic Jean Hawkins, was killed five years prior to the series during the Dakota Riots. Similar to the comics, Virgil gains his powers while reluctantly taking part in a gang war and getting caught in an explosion caused by mutagenic gas called "Quantum Vapor" in an event that would later be dubbed the "Big Bang" by the media. Everyone exposed to the gas gained powers and became known as "Bang Babies", with Virgil gaining electromagnetic powers and going on to become Static to battle villainous Bang Babies.
An adult Static appears in the Static Shock episode "Future Shock" and the Justice League Unlimited episode "The Once and Future Thing, Part 2: Time, Warped". As of the future setting of preceding DCAU series Batman Beyond, he has joined the Justice League.
Static appears in Young Justice, voiced by Bryton James.[36] This version is one of several teens who were abducted and experimented on by the Reach, through which he acquired his powers after they activated his latent meta-gene. After being rescued by the Team, he and three other abductees are transferred to S.T.A.R. Labs' custody, but they escape and are later recruited by Lex Luthor to help the Light combat the Reach until Arsenal tells them the truth about Luthor. After working with Black Lightning to thwart the Reach's invasion of Earth, Static studies under his tutelage and joins the Team. Two years later, during Young Justice: Outsiders, Static has honed his powers further with Black Lightning's help before going on to join the Outsiders.
Static makes a non-speaking cameo appearance in the Teen Titans Go! episode "Four Hundred".
A live-action Static Shock program by Warner Bros. from Reginald Hudlin was to be developed as part of the company's new Blue Ribbon Content digital division, and were eyeing Jaden Smith for the title role.[37][38][39] Actor Tyler James Williams said in an interview that Smith was cast as Static, but this was not confirmed by Blue Ribbon Content or Warner Bros.[40]
Film
Virgil Hawkins makes a non-speaking cameo appearance in Justice League: War. This version's appearance is similar to his Young Justice counterpart.
When asked if Static would receive a feature film set in the DC Animated Universe as part of the DC Universe Animated Original Movies, producer James Tucker responded that there was interest.[41] However, there have been no further discussions for such a project.
At DC FanDome held in August 2020, a live-action Static Shock film was revealed to be in development. The project will be a collaboration between DC Films, Warner Bros. Pictures, and Milestone Media.[42] By October of the same year, Michael B. Jordan joined the production team as co-producer alongside Reginald Hudlin. Jordan's company, Outlier Society, will serve as one of the production studios and Randy McKinnon was picked to write the film in March 2021.[43][44]
An animated film about Static and other Milestone heroes is currently in development at Warner Animation Group.[45]
^"DCU | Comics". Dccomics.com. 2010-04-21. Archived from the original on 2011-06-09. Retrieved 2011-01-28.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
^ ab"Static / Virgil Hawkins Voices (Static Shock)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved August 2, 2024. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
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