Static Shock
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StaticShock.jpg
Virgil Hawkins goes ito action as Static in a scene from Static Shock
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Background
The basic characters and setting of Static Shock are drawn from the Static comic book series, and many of the episodes adapt story elements from the comic books, but the television series varies from that continuity in many details, including Static's costume and his friends. There are also elements drawn from other Milestone comic books, most notably Blood Syndicate, from which several of the "bang babies" are taken. Recurring adversary Edwin Alva Sr. is based on a character from Hardware, and the Freeman Community Center is named after one of the central characters of Icon. Dwayne McDuffie, founder of Milestone and Static's co-creator, has retained a substantial amount of control over the series' plot and characterization, and has written several episodes.
Early in the television series - as in the comics - the setting was explicitly not in the DC Universe, and DC superheroes such as Superman were treated as fictional characters, most notably when Virgil remarked that "even Clark Kent had a day job" in the second episode. However, it later featured guest appearances by characters from other DC animated series, including Batman: The Animated Series, Batman Beyond, and Justice League. An older version of Static was later featured in the season 1 finale of Justice League Unlimited.
Other guest characters have included real-world individuals (voiced by themselves) such as basketball player Shaquille O'Neal and recording artist Lil Romeo, who also performed the theme song used in the final two seasons of the show.
Characters
- Static Shock (Virgil Ovid Hawkins) - voice: Phil LaMarr - The main character is Virgil Ovid Hawkins, an African-American high school student in the fictional city of Dakota. As a result of accidental exposure to an experimental mutagen in an event known as the Big Bang, he gained the ability to control and manipulate electricity, and uses these powers to become a superhero named "Static". Countless others who were also exposed gained a wide variety of mutations and abilities, and Static spends much of his time dealing with these "bang babies", many of whom use their abilities in selfish, harmful, and even criminal ways. He is named after the first black American to go to law school (who was himself named for the Roman poets Virgil and Ovid). Main article: Static (superhero).
Supporting characters
- Gear (Richard "Richie" Osgood Foley) - voice: Jason Marsden - Richie is Virgil's best friend and confidant. The first person to learn of Virgil's powers, and a fan of superhero comics, he persuades Virgil to become a superhero. At first he merely provides support for his friend, making gadgets for him, and helping to cover for Virgil to protect his secret identity. In the third season, it is revealed that Richie is also a "bang baby"; his powers just took a longer time to come into effect. His power is super-intelligence, which enables him to invent rocket-powered boots and "backpack", an intelligent multipurpose device he wears on his back, capable of surveillance and other semi-independent activity. With this equipment, he adopts the superhero identity "Gear" and becomes Static's sidekick (though he prefers the term "partner"). Richie did not appear in the Static comics, but is an amalgam of two of Virgil's best friends in that series: Richard Stone (who was also blond and wore glasses), and Frieda Goren (with whom Virgil shared his secret identity as Static).
- Robert Hawkins - voice: Kevin Michael Richardson - A social worker, Mr. Hawkins runs the Freeman Community Center as head counsellor. A widower and the father of two teenagers, Robert Hawkins is a caring and understanding, but strict parent. He dislikes gangs and the destructive attitudes of most bang babies, and his work at the Community Center is motivated by a desire to counteract their bad influence on young people. He remains unaware of his son's secret identity through most of the series, but eventually learns it.
- Sharon Hawkins - voice: Michele Morgan - Virgil Hawkins' older sister is a strong-willed, but caring young woman. She attends college but still lives at home, and volunteers at a hospital. Although deep down she and her brother love each other, they frequently argue, challenge, and tease each other, mainly about things such as chores and her cooking. Over time, Sharon notices how similar Static and Virgil are, and tries to pin him down with proof of her suspicions.
Other heroes
- Rubber-Band Man (Adam Evans) - A living and stretching mass, Adam can reshape himself into anything. He was defeated by Static, and in the cartoon, subsequently reformed; occasionally helping out Static and the police, after doing his time in jail. It is public knowledge that Evans is Rubber-Band Man. Evans is also a talented musician, and often dates Virgil's sister, Sharon. (His real name is derived from the names of former Milestone writers Adam Blaustein and Yves Fezzani, who created the character.)
- She-Bang (Shanice Vale) - Shanice is a girl who was genetically engineered in a lab to have enhanced strength and agility. Two of the scientists in the lab fall in love with her and sneak her home. Throughout her life she is pursued by agents from the lab, who want to recapture her (her jaunts as She-Bang proving that she's worth reclaiming and cloning).
- Anansi the Spider - He is a hero native to Ghana. Anansi has the power to create visible, realistic illusions. He was granted this power by an ancient small golden spider. He is named after Anansi, the trickster of African folklore.
- Mirage - Mirage uses special photokinetic powers, allowing her to generate visible, realistic illusions, by manipulating light into anything she can imagine or remember. Her older brother is Boom, and they live with their grandmother following their parents' death. Their powers come from stepping in a spill of the chemicals from the Big Bang. She agrees to help Boom steal money to buy a new place for them to live, but repents and helps to stop him. She is then taken in by the department of child services.
- Time-Zone (Nina Crocker) - She is bang baby with the ability to warp time, allowing her to travel into the past. After history is almost changed by Ebon, Nina decides that her powers are too dangerous to keep, and goes back in time to stop her past-self from being present at the night of the Big Bang.
Villains
- Hot-Streak (Francis "F-Stop" Stone) - He is a pyrokinetic and Static's first enemy, indirectly responsible for Virgil getting super powers. He was a vicious high-school bully, who repeatedly tormented Virgil, and it was Virgil's desire to shoot him in the confusion of the Big Bang (Hot-Streak was the leader of one of the gangs) that led to Virgil's exposure to the mutagenic effects that gave him Static's powers. After being picked up by the police at the docks after the Big Bang, he and the other gang-bangers were taken to the hospital. The next day he burst into flames and blasted out of the hospital room. Hot-Streak was arrested but went back to school on parole, but his anger management lessons proved ineffective. Later, Hot-Streak and other bang babies discovered that they had been exposed to the reversive cure for the mutagen, and were reverting to normal. In an effort to retain their powers, Hot-Streak and Ebon planned to steal what was left of the gas that was used in making the cure, but they ended up fused together and were presumably stopped by Static.
- Ebon (Ivan Evans) - He is one of Static's most persistent adversaries. A mass of living shadow, he calls himself "the master of shadows and darkness", with the ability to use shadows to his liking: he can slide on wall surfaces, go under doors, through cracks. He can also become an inter-dimensional shadow portal, able to take others with him (similar to the Shadow-slide in the Shadow Cabinet comics, which only works in total darkness). Ebon is weakened by intense bright light. The leader of the Meta-Breed gang, he has a personal grudge against Static for foiling so many of his plans. Ebon has also worked with Hot-Streak and Madelyn Spaulding. He also got his powers from the Big Bang. Ebon's real name is Ivan Evans, and he is the older brother of the Rubber-Band Man (Adam Evans). He has been a recurring character on the show since season one.
- Talon (Teresa) - She is a teenaged girl who has turned into girl-bird and is bitter about it. She is covered in orange feathers, has claws and talons, and can fly; plus, she can emit a destructive hyper-sonic shriek from her mouth, like a Harpy. She is a member of the Meta-Breed, and a frequent opponent of Static. Talon is restored to normal by a cure made by scientists from Big Bang gas; she agrees to help Static and Gear stop Ebon from becoming a Meta-Human again.
- Shiv - He is the jokester in the Meta-Breed. He can generate "light energy", which he can blast at opponents, and fashion into weapons which he can hold, throw, or fashion around his arms and hands. Shiv is returned to normal at the end of the series.
- Carmen-Dillo - A human mutated into an armadillo-like form, Carmen-Dillo possesses a bulletproof hide and can be launched like a projectile. He lives in garbage cans and steals food. At one point he is accompanied by a dog-like bang baby (similar to the Blood Syndicate character Dogg). Carmen-Dillo has worked with the Meta-Breed and the Meta-Men, but mostly operates by himself.
- Specs and Trapper - Specs and Trapper are two young geniuses funded by Edwin Alva Sr. to capture Static alive for study. As upper-class students at the Vanmoor Charter School for Science, they use Virgil (a visiting student) to build equipment for monitoring and tracking Static. After their attempts to capture Static fail, Alva fires them; they returns several times to attempt revenge on both Alva and Static.
- Omnifarious (Edwin Alva Jr.) - The son of Edwin Alva Sr., he uses stolen Big Bang mutagen gas to give himself a variety of temporary meta-human powers,calling himself "Omnifarious". He combines all the samples of his altered mutagenic gas, intending to use all those powers to destroy the main Alva Industries building, but instead turns into stone. He was the first villain to learn Static's real identity. His father later restores him to normal, with the help of Static, Gear, and Hot-Streak.
- Slip-Stream - Slipstream, also called Heavy-C, can generate powerful aerokinetic winds and twisters to keep himself and items aloft in mid-air, and uses this ability for theft. Slip-Stream is eventually returned to normal.
- Puff - Although she is a mass of living gases, Puff is capable of retaining her normal form or turning fully gaseous. She can blast gas from her hands, dissolve objects with acidic breath, or exhale knock-out gas. A bounty hunter, her partner is Onyx.
- Onyx - Onyx is a man made of living stone, with stone's strength and durability. He is Puff's partner, generally following her orders.
- Replay (Johnny Morrow) - Johnny is a former child-actor who uses his ability to generate "energy clones" to commit crimes. He creates a clone of Static which gets the real Static in trouble with the police. These clones vanish when Static shocks Replay. The character is based on Reprise, a super-human mercenary from the comic book series Hardware.
- Boom (Byron) - Boom has the ability to generate and direct high-decibel sound from a speaker on his chest, strong enough to shatter targets to dust. His younger sister is Mirage, and they live with their grandmother following their parents' death. Boom steals money to get them a better place to live, but is captured with help from his sister. The character is based on Boom-Box, a spurned rapper from the original Static comic book series. Boom is eventually returned to normal.
- Hyde - He leads a Bang-Baby gang called the Ruff-Pack. He is physically mutated with thick folded skin, making him tougher and stronger. Hyde manages to grab a piece of Static's coat, and has Ferrett track down Static for some payback, nearly discovering his identity.
- Ferrett - A member of the Ruff-Pack, Ferrett is physically mutated to resemble a ferret. His jaw sticks out and he has an enhanced sense of smell and taste; he is always thinking of food. The Joker attempts unsuccessfully to recruit him into a gang of Meta-Humans he's forming. Ferrett is returned to normal.
- Kangorr - Also a member of the Ruff-Pack, Kangorr is physically mutated; the muscle mass in his legs have increased. With these he has super-developed legs, like a kangaroo's, and he can stomp through the ground or floors, and leap great distances. After the Ruff-Pack he was in the Joker's gang, then joined the Meta-Breed, having known Ebon before the Big Bang. Kangorr is returned to normal.
- Aqua-Maria - A young latina woman, she is transformed into living water by the Big Bang. She shorted out Static, but was captured by Rubber-Band Man. She was broken out of jail by Ebon, Static stopped her using electrolysis. She later teamed up with Hot-Streak, but was frozen by Static and Gear. A team of scientists offered her the chance to be the first to try their antidote for the Big-Bang mutagen, and despite an attempt by Hot-Streak to sabotage the treatment, she is eventually returned to normal. Based on a character from Blood Syndicate.
- Madelyn Spaulding - She has the bang baby ability of mind control, which she used to win the election for class president, but when she tried to take control of Virgil's mind he shocked her, and she was expelled. She later learns she has telekinetic powers, dons a multi-coloured outfit, and breaks Ebon, Talon, and Hot-Streak out of jail. She was the second villain to learn Static's real identity.
- Rag-Tag - An old homeless man who was in an alley near the docks during the Big Bang, Rag-Tag had the power to grant super-powers to normal people, and to remove them. He tries to completely drain Static's powers and is hit back by Gear. While chasing Richie around the rooftop he lives on, Rag-Tag falls off the rooftop and into a dumpster.
- Run and Jump - This pair are given powers by Rag-Tag; Run has Super-Speed, and Jump has Teleportation. They steal valuables for Rag-Tag in exchange for their powers, and continue to steal for more recharges.
- Replikon (Marvin Roper) - He is a metamorph, allowing him to transform into anyone, or to change his atomic structure into any organic or inorganic compound. He wanted to write music but his music was bad, so he tried to ruin the music career of Adam Evans (Rubber-Band Man) by kidnapping and imitating A. J. McLean of the Backstreet Boys to steal a music deal.
- Tamara Lawrence - Tamara can turn into a large, super-strong beast, but her eyes and ears are sensitive to light and sound. She is accidentally caught in the Big Bang while looking for her boyfriend. After the Big Bang, she attacks certain people as a monster to put him under suspicion. Tamara is one of the Bang-Babies that returned to normal.
- Star-Burst (Brandon) - He uses his background knowledge in physics to build tools to absorb energy attacks to ruin a show produced by his boss, because the man would not read his screenplay. Static and Gear figure out that he's not a bang baby, and cut off his power supply.
- Leech - He has the power to absorb the powers of other bang babies by using the "suckers" resembling leech mouths on the palms of his hands. Leech kidnaps Ebon, Hot-Streak, and Talon to steal their powers. Leech also tries to steal Static's and Gear's powers.
- Heavyman (Dr. Koenig) - When his experiments on absorbing energy go wrong, he transforms into a living rock, able to absorb anything, gaining mass and energy. He kidnapps She-Bang's creators/parents, so he could make them work on a cure for his condition. When the cure doesn't work, he tries to kill them. He eventually absorbs too much and is rendered immobile.
- Speed-Warp (Eddie Felson) - He works as an intern for Dr. McDonald, from whom he stole a device that can speed up or slow down the movement of the wearer. Moving at such speeds he can steal anything easily and not be caught, seen only as a blur. Speed-Warp was the third villain to learn Static's real identity, but is currently stuck moving slower than everything else. (His name is a reference to fictional pool shark "Fast Eddie" Felson, and Dr. McDonald's is a reference to John D. MacDonald, author of the time-manipulator novel The Girl, The Gold Watch, and Everything.)
- Chainlink (Troy) - Chainlink has metal tentacles on his back, which he could use to melt metal. A former friend of Dule Jones, whom he blackmails when the friend - also a bang baby - becomes a professional football player.
- Omnara (Karen Roberts) - Karen Roberts works for Edwin Alva Sr., trying to discover Static's real identity, and takes the name Omnara when she is fired. Omnara pays Puff and Onyx to kidnap Robert Hawkins, so she can force Static to steal components she needs for another project of hers, Project Omni. Omnara is the fourth villain to learn Static's real identity.
Other Bang-Babies
- D-Struct (Derek Barnett) - Derek Barnett is a track athlete, who can generate ionic energy around himself, which can protect him from harm or be directed at targets. He is coerced by Ebon into joining the Meta-Breed, as "D-Struct". Static persuades him to quit the gang, and he then volunteers himself as a research subject for bang baby research. He is based on a character who appeared in the Static and Hardware comics.
- Dwayne McCall - Dwayne can change things into anything else he can clearly imagine. His new step-brother Aaron Price finds out about his powers and talks him into doing things for him, finally manipulating him into robbing a bank. Static stops this by showing him that his brother is just taking advantage of him. It has been suggested that he is an homage to Dwayne McDuffie, who co-created the characters out of his imagination, and who (at the time) lived in a different state from the show's producers, and thus communicated with them only by phone call.
- Tantrum (Thomas Kim) - Thomas is a gifted student whose father pushes him to over-achieve in school. After the Big Bang, his anger and pent-up stress cause him to transform into a large purple skinned, orange haired creature, driven by anger and stress, with great strength and impervious to pain (similar to Hulk). His rampages are stopped by Static, who let one of these trantrums run its course, then tell Thomas' parents about his condition, so they can help him with his stress.
- Permafrost (Maureen Connor) - Following her mother's death, Maureen Connor is a homeless girl, and develops mental problems from the loneliness. After the Big Bang, she develops cryokinesis (the ability to generate and manipulate ice and snow, imperviousness to cold) and her hair turns white and her skin light blue. She turns to troublemaking, attracting Static's attention, who manages to calm her down and takes her to a local church for help in their homeless program.
- Nails (Allie Langford) - Nails is a bang baby with metallic skin and her fingernails are indestructible claws. When she discovers that she is changing, she tries to hide it and seeks out a treatment through a web site actually run by Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn as a lure for bang babies to help them with their criminal activities. Static tracks Nails to Gotham City then teams up with Batman to find her. The women betray and abandon Nails following a heist, but Batman and Static rescue her, then all three of them capture the criminals. Nails then returns home to her parents.
- The Night Breed are a group recruited by Ebon. Its members are bang babies who have a fatal sensitivity to light, so they live underground.
- Nightingale (or Gale) - Nightingale generates a special dust called "dark-matter" that she uses to protect herself from intense lighting. She lives underground along with other light-sensitive bang babies, and is recruited by Ebon, who names them the Night-Breed. But she turns on Ebon during his attempt to blanket the entire city in "dark matter" (giving them free reign of it), absorbing it into herself.
- Brickhouse - She is Nightingale's best friend and was transformed by the Big Bang into living bricklike material. She turns against Ebon when he traps Static, Gear and Nightingale, and helps them escape. She is based on one of the central characters of Blood Syndicate.
- Tech - He has super-intelligence. He builds a machine to cover the city in "dark matter", and sides with Ebon when Gale and Brick rebel and help Static and Gear to thwart it. Afterward he decides to work on a cure for the Night-Breed's light-sensitivity.
- Fade - He has the ability to pass through anything. He sides with Ebon when Gale and Brick rebel, and goes back into hiding after their takeover of Dakota is stopped. He is based on one of the central characters of Blood Syndicate.
- Dule Jones - A former gang-banger, he has metal tentacles which grow from his back (similar to Marvel Comics supervillain Doctor Octopus). After the Big Bang, Dule gives up his gang lifestyle to play professional football, but his fellow gang member Troy/Chainlink tries to blackmail him for money, threatening to reveal his secret. Dule goes public, defeating Chainlink in a confrontation with help from Static, Gear, and other football players.
Episodes
Season 1
- Shock to the System - Virgil Hawkins is harassed by school bully and gang leader Francis "F-Stop" Stone, but is "rescued" by Wade, the leader of another street gang. Wade tries to get Virgil to join his gang, and tells Virgil to join him at the docks late at night, where they will take care of Virgil's problem... permanently, in the middle of a "gang bang" involving F-Stop. The police show up and exchange gunfire with the gang members, and hazardous material canisters are ruptured, exposing everyone present - including Virgil - to a huge cloud of purple gas. The next day Virgil discovers that he has electrical powers and tells his best friend Richie, who encourages him to become a superhero. Meanwhile, gang-bangers exposed to the gas are being treated at the hospital, where many of them are mutating. "F-Stop" starts burning up until he catches on fire and blasts his way out of the hospital, then walks away looking forward to causing trouble.
- Aftershock
- The Breed
- Grounded
- They're Playing My Song
- The New Kid
- Child's Play
- Sons of the Fathers
- Junior
- Winds of Change
- Bent Out of Shape
- Replay
- Tantrum
Season 2
- Sunspots
- Trouble Squared
- Brother-Sister Act
- Static Shaq - (guest stars Shaquille O'Neal as himself)
- Frozen Out
- Bad Stretch
- Pop's Girlfriend
- Attack of the Living Brain Puppets
- Power Play
- Consequences
- The Big Leagues - (features characters from Batman: The Animated Series)
- Jimmy
- Duped - (guest stars Backstreet Boys' AJ McLean as himself)
Season 3
- Hard as Nails - (features characters from Batman: The Animated Series)
- Static in Africa
- Gear
- The Usual Suspect
- She-Bang
- Flashback
- Showtime
- A League of Their Own - part 1 - (features characters from Justice League)
- A League of Their Own part 2 - (features characters from Justice League)
- Blast From the Past
- Toys in the Hood - (features characters from Superman: The Animated Series)
- Romeo in the Mix - (guest stars Lil Romeo as himself)
- The Parent Trap
Season 4
- Future Shock - (features characters from Batman: The Animated Series and Batman Beyond)
- She-Back!
- Out of Africa
- Fallen Hero - (features characters from Justice League)
- Army of Darkness
- Hoop Squad - (guest stars NBA players Steve Nash, Yao Ming, Karl Malone and Tracy McGrady)
- Now You See Him...
- No Man's an Island
- Linked
- Where the Rubber Meets the Road
- Wet and Wild
- Kidnapped
- Power Outage
External links
- Static Shock official Warner Bros. web site (http://www2.warnerbros.com/web/staticshock/index.jsp)
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- The Milestone Rave (http://milestone.luthor.com/)
- Extreme Static (http://tarporley.com/static/), a Static Shock fan site
- a Static Shock fan site (http://wester5.tripod.com/)
- Static Shock crossover info (http://jl.toonzone.net/static/static.htm) at The Watchtower (a Justice League fan site)
- Static Shock crossover info (http://wf.toonzone.net/WF/StaticShock/Episodes/) at World's Finest (a Batman: The Animated Series fan site)