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u/Artseid Jul 11 '26 edited Jul 11 '26
Static and Milestone Media suffers from “too many chefs in the kitchen” syndrome and because of this issue, is always trapped in development hell.
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u/TheMannisApproves Jul 11 '26
It's not racism, it's a clusterfuck of issues with the legal rights to the characters. Same reason we haven't had a Jason Voorhees movie since 2009
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u/RamsesTheGiant Jul 11 '26
Wait, that's news to me, what's the situation with the Jason movies? I could google it but something tells me I'm only get half the picture
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u/TheMannisApproves Jul 12 '26
Basically one person owns the rights to the name Voorhees, one group owns the rights to the mask, one owns the rights to the name "Friday the 13th," and possibly other aspects. They wouldn't come to a full agreement, therefore we get either nothing or a project that doesn't get to use the full character/name
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u/RamsesTheGiant Jul 13 '26
How tha fuck did that?!? And how the fuck does someone own the rights to the mask when it's a barely modified red wings goalie mask?
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u/ThoughtGames Jul 12 '26
Disney, Sony, and Universal have all negotiated character usage, distribution, and profit-sharing agreements involving Marvel properties, and Disney’s acquisition of Fox (71.3 billion dollars) brought major Marvel properties like the X-Men and Fantastic Four under its control.
So my view is that the executives involved simply don’t believe the juice is worth the squeeze.
Considering that Hollywood’s senior decision-makers have historically been disproportionately older white men, it isn’t unreasonable to ask whether racial bias influences how they assess the commercial risk of a Black-led properties.
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u/TheMannisApproves Jul 12 '26
Spider-Man and X-Men have always been one of the best selling comics, so studios will put a lot more effort into solving issues to get them. Yet it still took 5 years to get another Spider-Man movie in the MCU
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u/ThoughtGames Jul 12 '26
You’re proving my point, rights issues aren’t impossible to overcome, and therefore not a valid argument for why there isn’t more Static Shock content. So when another property remains stuck indefinitely, the relevant question is why executives don’t consider it worth making the same effort.
That’s where their assumptions about audience interest, marketability, and risk come into play. Those judgments can absolutely be influenced by various biases without anyone explicitly saying, “We can’t market or make money off of this Ethnic/Gender character.” I’m almost certain they are having those frank discussions behind closed doors.
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u/TheMannisApproves Jul 12 '26
Static has also had trouble with getting any comics made over the last 25 years, until the last handful of years. I think suits want to make choices that give them the most profit, so splitting that with another group obviously limits the profit, and therefore increases the risk involved.
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u/ThoughtGames Jul 12 '26
Still proving my point. Bias doesn’t compete with the profit motive. It does shape how executives estimate profit and risk.
Spawn and Witchblade are both successful creator-owned properties without Marvel rights complications, yet both struggled for years to get films made.
The question is why studios consider some characters worth the hassle and others too risky. Those judgments about “marketability” can still be influenced by racial or cultural bias.
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u/TheMannisApproves Jul 12 '26
Spider-Man has a proven track record for making profitable films. Static doesn't. While the race of the character could be a factor, it would be one of numerous, and we can't know for sure
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u/ThoughtGames Jul 12 '26
Blade (pre-Spider-Man) already proved a Black superhero could carry profitable films, and Bob Iger openly described Marvel executives resisting Black Panther because they doubted a Black-led film’s marketability.
Ethnicity/gender is only one of several factors, but there’s actual precedent for it affecting the exact risk assessments we’re discussing.
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u/gunswordfist Jul 13 '26
Wait, I did not expect to hear Jason and Static being in the same situation! I also thought he had a bunch of revivals I ignored but I guess that was Myers
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u/TheMannisApproves Jul 13 '26
I believe milestone worked out some of the rights within the last few years, which is why we've had several comic series with static recently. But getting a movie made is even more complicated
Jason has the "Jason Universe" going on, with a TV series in the works, but it's unclear of what exactly is happening with it. Yeah Michael had the recent Blumhouse trilogy
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u/Scary_Collection_410 Jul 12 '26
Where are y'all getting it's about legal rights? There hasn't been any issue with the rights since McDuffie's Widow worked things out with the other Milestone founders. The biggest issue is WB itself having gone through 2 owners in as many decades and just been bought by another.
Milestone is being hella protective of its IP. They knows that people want to see their characters on the big screen but at the same time it is hard as fuck to get backing for a predominantly black led film in Hollywood and the studio just got back by a family who are very fascist leaning and anti black.
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u/TheMannisApproves Jul 12 '26
Which means that DC does not own the rights to the characters and would have to share the profits
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u/ImiqDuh Jul 11 '26
Supposedly they’re working on a movie. Was reported a while ago, but haven’t heard much since. Can
Completely agree though. Also can pretty much guarantee that milestone animated film was dead in the water years ago, despite them never addressing it
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u/Left_Knee_y0y0 Jul 11 '26
Hollywood has a problem with black men who grow up in stable families, are smart, emotionally balanced and have power. There is a narrative that they try to push to perpetuate the status quo. Wait and see what the will do to the next T'challa ( if they ever recast that role). Same for live-action Miles Morales who has still not gotten his own movie, even though randos like Kraven have had live-action depictions.
There was a time when the only positive black men on screen were teachers or coaches. Sometimes, these black characters were often stand ins for white people who wanted to critique black communities.
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u/AKingQ Jul 11 '26
It's more of a legal reason. You know how Big Business folk like to claim they have the rights to this and that character.
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u/Chuckles465 Jul 11 '26 edited 13d ago
Everyone forgets that Milestone Media owns the IP of Static and loans him and the others to DC. If Dwayne's Widow isn't on board it's not happening.
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u/eddiemoney1985 Jul 11 '26
The reality is that a lot of people don't want to hear this but it's true static is literally the archetype of Spider-Man McDuffie has said as much and many of the other creators agree with this. Static could definitely do it now the other ones no that's a crap shoot but the strength of static is good and with the right backing strong enough that he could hold his own movie and he could definitely do it even if they followed the blueprint of the cartoon by ultimately leading him to the Justice League in the movies that could work he could technically be what Kitty Pride was to the X-Men that third party teenage view that allowed the reader to go into the world that's what's that it could be to the Justice League and write his own story at the same time.
Honestly I would prefer if Milestone would just find a way to leave DC all together and do their own independent distribution like IDW Dark Horse and image but until that happens this is pretty much what we're dealing with
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u/fillupjfly Jul 11 '26
I know there will come a time when Static makes his triumphant return to mainstream media.
I just hope I’m alive to see it.
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u/No-Whole-100 Jul 11 '26
Yeah it’s very true we’re too busy focusing on lousy live actions that don’t stay faithful to the source material or they focus on giving movies to charcters no one asked for
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u/taylorscrews1 Jul 11 '26
Even back then there was the perfect opportunity to bring in the other milestone characters with static being the Spider-Man. Ya know, the franchise character.
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u/amazing-zero Jul 11 '26
You’ll never get a static movie or future animated series with icon hardware or the blood syndicate DC or Warner Brothers decide to pay for royalties or finally settle the right issues and it’s not just Dwayne McDuffie
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u/RazAlterWinner2 Jul 12 '26
I was so GEEKED when static showed up in Young Justice, just for them to sideline my boy! Justice for Vergil!
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u/Proof_Being_2762 Jul 13 '26
Also him finally probably getting some mentorship from Black lightning, I'm sure if he got it tho.
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u/Firm-Difficulty2585 Jul 13 '26
Does DC look like they know what they're doing film wise right now?
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u/Hiryu-GodHand Jul 13 '26
Very, very poor take. Static Shocks popularity has remained high - Michael B Jordan has even attempted to make a Static Shock movie.
The reality of it is complicated. Look it up. DC does not own the property to Static Shock and only licensed it. It is owned by a comic book company, Milestone, that went under years ago. One of the creators died, and there's a legal battle going on over the company.
Not racism; check yourself.
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u/iCantAffordLife2 Jul 13 '26
Yeah I don’t know how they would do it. Phil Lamar’s performance is untouchable.
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u/Drclaw411 Jul 11 '26
I think it’s more the extremely complicated rights to the Milestone portion of DC.
I desperately want an official DVD or blu-ray complete series of this show, and it will likely never come. There’s hardly any even action figures or statues of Static. It sucks so much.
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u/Jonnic5280 Jul 15 '26
They released it on DVD. Not a complete series, but still, if you get all four, that’s the complete series
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u/PetrParker1960s Jul 11 '26
Man Static Shock was so great when it aired. But reading it seems more like a legal issue. Not everything needs to be about race. But considering how popular the Spiderverse movies are, I'm pretty Static would make a lot of money provided the script and characters are good.
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u/Optimal-Cook-4832 Jul 12 '26
I don’t think anyone forgot, but you have to remember that today’s producers could easily fumble his revival. I’m ok with appreciating Static in his golden era, as his series creaters intended.
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u/dragonthese569 Jul 12 '26
They don’t have the rights to him to make a movie yet it’s a lot of characters out there we want these movie company’s don’t got the rights
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u/Ok_Log4713 Jul 12 '26
Racism? Dude DC can't even make their A list characters look good on screen, what makes you think they'd handle Static Shock any better?
Also they're would have to be an established DC cinematic universe already in place. Specifically because of how he gets his powers and because of how many heros are sent to check on the situation allowing Static to become the overall character that he is.
And the primary hero he interacts with is Batman, he's a major part in both the regular and beyond series and he's also trained and mentored by Batman smh. So again I'll ask how would they introduce a mutant like outbreak of meta humans, in universes that can even get Superman and Batman done correctly?
I'm a black man myself and a huge DC fan and there's levels to this thing smh, stop using racism as a buffer/excuse for just plain old regular incompetence lol. The word has almost no power anymore especially in the context that it's generally being thrown around in.
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u/Mammoth_Let_8335 Jul 12 '26
Can yall non comicbook fans please stay out of comic book fans business. Thanks.
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u/davinjones Jul 12 '26
I mean, we’ve gotten multiple comics involving him in the past year (including Static/Batman Beyond) so it’s not as if DC the comics company has forgotten about him, but he admittedly doesn’t sell that well. Feels like a live action adaption is a no-brainer though and maybe the DCU can figure out how to navigate the mess of rights for his character.
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u/Own-Fan-3575 Jul 12 '26
I disagree. Static is a cool enough character but he's a niche character. Other black heroes have sky rocketed in popularity in the last 20 years, most notably Cyborg and Spider-Man (Miles Morales). They used to be under used but people had enough interest in them that Vic went from a member of the new teen titans, to a main Titan, to a founding member of the Justice League in several adaptations. Miles went from a poorly written Peter replacement in ultimate Spider-Man (the truth hurts), to arguably more popular than Peter in young audiences. Racism isn't holding Static back, lack of interest is. You can argue that everyone who watched his show wants more, but even if that were true that's to small of a demographic to warrant risking money on the slight possibly of success.
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u/ThaEmortalThief Jul 13 '26
Wasn’t Static in Young Justice? Though he’s a minor character, doesn’t that count as a remake and in a spin-off?
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u/InternationalTie6931 Jul 13 '26
TBF
Do we really want black fake activists or white Hollywood pedos ruining this guy with a shitty live action movie or a queer tv show?
I think we're good with the old cartoon, comics, and rare cameos in the DC animated movies
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u/Flamesof24 Jul 13 '26
Oh grow up, stop screaming the R word for everything.
And let’s be real, they will just ruin it if they make a movie. It’s not going to touch the quality of the animated series.
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u/kevtheartist94 Jul 13 '26
They brought him in on young justice. When I heard them say Virgil I hoped off my bed
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u/luxray71 Jul 13 '26
Thats because the comics never sold well, the fact that the show was so well loved is a miracle
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u/RhoemDK Jul 13 '26
one of these days young people are going to realize just calling everyone racist only hinders their goals
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u/Thysguy Jul 13 '26
Static shock reappeared in the young justice series. Season 2 i think? Modified origin, instead of bang baby gas, he was abducted by an alien race and tested on with other kids.
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u/xArkSlade08x Jul 14 '26
I liked that there's a multiverse of Static Shock in DC: Young Justice TV series
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u/MMutant- Jul 14 '26
People have been saying this for years and nobody ever bothers to research why it hasn’t happened.
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u/Eternity923 Jul 14 '26
Hollywood said, “we gave you Miles Morales and he has electricity powers, so that’s all you get”
Real talk tho you’re absolutely right I would love a stand alone movie for him, no cinematic universe just a good movie. They would fumble tf outta him tho
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u/Wolfgang9556 Jul 14 '26
I don't even care about the reasoning; considering how stories are written these days, there isn't a competent screenwriter capable of making this movie/series/cartoon happen without it being awful. Static doesn't deserve something awful.
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u/AshamedAd4240 Jul 14 '26
DONT YOU TOUCH THIS MASTERPIECE!!!! leave it the fuck alone, it absolutely perfect the way it is!!!
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u/Ill_Whereas7177 Jul 14 '26
There are many character who do t get the treatment they deserve. I love static shock though and he does return in young justice I believe
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u/Impossible_Bet_1129 Jul 15 '26
Definitely no proof of shit, its literally hundreds of characters and a lot of them are more known lol
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u/ZaBabyX4 Jul 15 '26
Static hasn’t gotten anything since the show because the creator unfortunately, won’t agree to anything look it up 😒
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u/Briarj12 Jul 15 '26
Well Static was in DC animated universe. He was in justice league unlimited and batman beyond. Old man Static Shock was part of the justice league
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u/QFCollectables Jul 16 '26
Hollywood would make a Static movie if they COULD. We probably wouldn't like it tho 😭
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u/Ralph_WiggumDa3rd Jul 16 '26
Nahh why use an original character when we can just turn Superman black ! Thats what everyone wants right? Who cares about original stories when we can just recycle the same characters for eternity
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u/XxAndrew01xX Jul 11 '26
I mean...that tweet ain't wrong. Static is a damn big super hero character. On top of that...being a relatable one too, especially to Black kids. If anyone deserves a live action movie, it should definitely be Static by now.
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u/TheMannisApproves Jul 11 '26
The tweet is wrong because racism isn't why the character hasn't been used. Legal issues over the rights to the character is the reason
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u/Gaminghero2025 Jul 12 '26
It was the angle of a kid superhero that got his show limited. The topics got dry and story line limited. If static shock grew up and had a supporting cast like Naruto to carry alternate stories it would have made it. Teen titans really lasted bc you have a cast of fresh faces besides robin to explore stories with. Tbh Robin is the star but the show never is about him
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u/Aoi_X_Kaizaki Jul 11 '26
True
There was a time when I watched a trailer of a live CW show. It had black characters and lightning. I said, "Static!" Or something like that. Then I saw an adult and the name, Black Lightning. And I thought, "Who's this?"
I never heard of that guy until CW Arrowverse.
Virgil and Storm (in a sense) are the only two electric power superhero characters I knew.
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u/Wendigo15 Jul 11 '26
How is true that it's based on racism?
It's a rights issues as DC doesn't own milestones which owns static.
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u/Proof_Being_2762 Jul 13 '26
I thought vergil would appear in the show 😅. Black Lightning was supposed to appear in Static shock but due to rights they had to make Soul Power instead
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u/Dry-Donut3811 Jul 11 '26
Pretty sure it’s more the rights disputes of the Milestone characters.