Who the Clix? is a series of articles featuring information on comic book characters that have been made into figures for the popular tabletop game Heroclix. These articles are meant to help Heroclix players learn more about the characters behind their favorite pieces.
Thunderbolts and lightning, very very frightening, it’s: Static
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Appearances in Heroclix: Justice League Unlimited, Wizkids DC, Teen Titans
First Appearance: Static #1
Team Affiliations: Justice Leage, Teen Titans, Young Justice
Created By: Dwayne McDuffie, Denys Cowan, Michael Davis, Derek T. Dingle
While in high school, Virgil Ovid Hawkins is caught in the middle of a gang battle in his home city of Dakota and doused with tear gas that has an experimental radioactive marker to track people that inhale it. This gas is also spiked with a mutagen called Quantum Juice. This mutagen gifts him a range of electrical powers that he decides to use to become a costumed hero. It also gives the gang member and others nearby powers which leads to the event being called the Big Bang and the metahumans that resulted being referred to as Bang Babies.
The agency behind the mutagen attempts to kidnap Virgil only for his powers to manifest for the first time as he fights back. Because his powers are largely electrical, he calls himself Static and maintains a mostly secret identity. He is forced to reveal his secret to his friend Frieda Goren when he stops her from being abducted by rival gangs.
Static spends much of his early career battling other bang babies such as Hotstreak, Tarmack, Puff, Coil, Virus, D-Struct, Lasterjet, Powerfist, Hyacinth, and Dr. Kilgore. Virgil eventually gives up his crime fighting days and tries to live a normal life with love interest Frieda. He is eventually convinced to return for a battle alongside Blitzen and Hardware. When the battle is won, Static decides to return to superheroics but assures Frieda that it will be on a part time basis.
During this more laid back part of his career, he helps and is helped by the Shadow Cabinet, Blood Syndicate and Dakota City PD officer Captain Summers. He even eventually joins the new team called Heroes. Moments after helping them in a crisis, a corrupt Shadow Cabinet sends a death squad after Static’s new friends.
After the death of Darkseid, damage is done to the multiverse that threatens both the world of the DC heroes and the Dakota heroes. Dharma is able to use stolen energy to merge the two universes and ensuring that they both survive. Only Dharma himself, Icon and Superman appear aware that Dakota did not originally belong on this earth.
This does lead to Static being kidnapped and becoming the champion of the underground fight club known as the Dark Side Club. He is heavily sedated and controlled with the Anti-Life equation until the Clock King tries to pit him against Rose Wilson. Though Static is able to defeat Rose, he is also able to break free of the mental conditioning long enough to show his heroic self. Rose eventually helps free him from the Dark Side Club and Static takes revenge on his captors.
The survivors of the Dark Side Club eventually arrive at Titans Tower and are allowed to rest as well as being invited to join the Teen Titans. Many of the survivors decline but Static decides to join them. Static quickly proves his worth by repelling an enraged Jericho, in Cyborg’s body, saving the life of Cyborg and his fellow Teen Titans.
Eventually, Virgil leans that a deadly virus is infecting the citizens of Dakota. He decides that he has to return home and face his family after all that has happened in the Dark Side Club. While he is mostly met with happy faces, he finds out that his girlfriend Madison left him during his disappearance. While investigating the virus he learns that whoever has created it is also selling limited supplies of the cure. This eventually leads him to a lab where he is ambushed by Holocaust.
Holocaust informs Static and other Titans he has captured that he plans on duplicating and weaponizing powers. Other Titans, including former Titans Cyborg, Kid Flash and Superboy arrive and rescue their compatriots before all the heroes overwhelm the villain. Virgil explains to Frieda that he has convinced his family he is taking part in a long term fellowship and thus protected his secret identity. He tries once more to reconcile with Madison but is rejected. Feeling his family is safe, he returns with the Titans to San Francisco.
After an adventure in another dimension, Static returns to Titans Tower only to find that he no longer has his powers. After so long as a hero, this terrifies and enrages the young man. Cyborg arranges for Virgil to travel to Cadmus Labs in hopes that they will be able to restore his powers. However, after the events of Flashpoint, this is no longer necessary and Static has his powers again.
Static decides to move to New York with his family after a strange accident has split his sister into a set of twins. Hardware gifts Virgil a new costume and a flying disc as well as an intership at S.T.A.R. Labs. Virgil becomes a greater ally of the Titans while at STAR Labs and helps design much of their costumes and tech.