A new report says that a Static Shock feature film is “currently in development” in the same piece about Reginald Hudlin developing a live-action The Phantom series.
The mention is brief, but it’s enough to put Static back on the radar, especially since Hudlin is tied to Milestone Media, the company behind the character.
The character is actually owned by Milestone but has been tied to DC, which leaves the question whether the film will be a DC project or not.
What is said about the Static Shock movie?
In Variety’s report about The Phantom live-action series being in development, it’s said:
“Along with his work in film and TV, Hudlin is a vet of the comic book world. Hudlin previously wrote “Black Panther” issues for Marvel Comics and is now the co-owner of comic book company Milestone Media. A feature film based on Milestone’s Static Shock character is currently in development.”
Static Shock has a different history than most DC characters
Static, aka Virgil Hawkins, first launched in 1993 as part of Milestone Media, not as a traditional in-house DC creation.
Milestone’s books were distributed by DC Comics, and over the years, DC has published Static comics and used the character across its wider universe, which is why a lot of fans simply associate him with DC.
But the character’s roots trace back to Milestone, which has always made the rights and branding side more complicated than with Batman, Superman, or Wonder Woman.
Just because Static has appeared in DC comics, cartoons, and team-ups does not automatically mean a Static Shock movie would be a straight DC Studios project tied to James Gunn’s DCU or an Elseworlds project.
Based on the character’s publishing history and the rights complications that have been publicly mentioned before, it’s possible that any Static movie could sit in its own lane.
The character became huge because of the animated series
For a lot of fans, Static Shock is the cartoon. The animated series ran from 2000 to 2004 and helped turn Virgil Hawkins into one of the most recognizable younger heroes connected to DC and Milestone.
DC describes the show as following Virgil, a smart high school kid who gains electromagnetic powers and becomes a superhero, and the series remains one of the biggest reasons the character still has name value today.
That popularity is why Hollywood has kept circling the property. Back in 2020 at DC FanDome, Reginald Hudlin said a Static Shock movie was in development, and later that year The Hollywood Reporter and Variety reported that Michael B. Jordan’s Outlier Society had come aboard to produce the project for Warner Bros. and DC.
However, the project never went anywhere.
So is this a DC movie or not?
Right now, that’s the big question. Variety’s new report confirms the project is apparently still alive in some form (no mention of DC in the article), and it does not say if it is part of DC Studios, part of James Gunn’s DCU, or even moving quickly. It simply says the film is in development.
That leaves room for a couple of possibilities. One, the project could still be set up through Warner Bros. with DC involvement, similar to how it was previously reported.
Two, because Static is a Milestone character with a different ownership and publishing history, the movie could end up operating adjacent to DC rather than as a direct DCU entry.
And third, the Static Shock movie could simply stand on its own and not be associated with DC.
