Static Shock

Our Review

The DCAU’s beloved outlier: Virgil Hawkins, a smart-aleck high schooler in Dakota City, gains electromagnetic powers in a gang-chemical spill and becomes Static — a hero whose biggest superpower is that he’s a well-adjusted kid with a supportive family and a best friend who builds his gear. Milestone Media’s creation (the first Black headliner in the DCAU) rooted a superhero show in a specific community, and the show leaned into it: episodes about gun violence, racism, dyslexia, and gang pressure gave it a social conscience most Saturday-morning fare lacked.

The crossovers (Batman, the Justice League, an older Static in Beyond) integrate it into the DCAU, and Phil LaMarr’s voice work keeps even formulaic episodes lively. It softened some of Milestone’s harder edges for Kids WB, but the character work holds up. A hero kids actually saw themselves in.

Verdict: Watch it — the DCAU’s most human hero.