Static

Static (real name Virgil Hawkins) is a teen from Dakota City and a liberated abductee of the Reach. After helping save the world from the Reach's Magnetic Field Disruptors, he joined the Team.

Physical appearance
Virgil is an African-American teenager with short black dreads. He wears blue pants, a lighter blue t-shirt and fitted baseball cap in a backwards fashion, sneakers, and a black jacket with yellow accents on the arms and cuffs.

Early life
Virgil was on his way to his sister, waiting at a train station in Dakota City, when agents of the Light abducted him.

2016
After being abducted by agents of the Light, Virgil was sedated and flown to Bialya, where Queen Bee gathered strays and runaways for the Partner. He was part of a shipment that arrived after the Team had already departed.

Virgil's pod was kept aboard the Manta-Sub, and readied for transport to the Partner.

For a little under a week, Virgil was experimented upon in the Reach base in the western Pacific. They wanted to see if his Meta-Gene could be triggered. He remained aware of his surroundings, and noticed some of the abductees disappeared after experimentation failed to gain the desired result.

When the Team infiltrated the base, Robin, Batgirl and Bumblebee liberated the kids and brought them back to the Bio-Ship. When the "Black Beetle" interfered with the escape, Virgil found himself cut off from the Bio-Ship, and watched as the heroes were defeated one by one. He tried to help by taking a Manta Trooper's rifle, but Shimmer overpowered him.

When Blue Beetle joined the fight, he opened the hatch to the Bio-Ship, and Virgil fell through it. They eventually managed to get all their people aboard, and set off.

The liberated abductees were gathered in STAR Labs for a debriefing. After Tye Longshadow finished his debriefing, Black Canary welcomed into her makeshift consultation room.

Virgil told her of the experiments the Reach did on him. He explained what he saw, but was impatient, and wanted to go home. He fiddled with a paperclip as he talked, and after the conversation was over, tossed it at the holder. It hit the rim and knocked it over. As this happened, Canary noticed the clip had attracted all the other paperclips into a ball.



Virgil was with the other abducted teens at STAR Labs, using his powers to levitate a trash can lid. Dr. David Wilcox told him to levitate the entire trash can, prompting Virgil to slam the lid against the wall in frustration and demand a break from the testing. Wilcox relented, giving the teens 20 minutes. As they walked down a hallway, they overheard an argument between Eduardo Dorado Jr. and Eduardo Dorado Sr. in the latter's office. After Ed left the office, Virgil told the others they didn't have to worry about any more testing because they were going to escape.

After Wilcox dismissed everyone from testing for the day, Nathaniel Tyron told Virgil they shouldn't try to escape, but Virgil and the others disagreed, prompting Tyron to set off the alarm. As Virgil and his friends made their way to a fire exit, they found it locked. Ed asked Virgil what his escape plan was and Virgil admitted he didn't have one. He suggested either Ed or Tye Longshadow could get them out, but Ed could only teleport himself and along sight lines and Tye didn't know how to control his powers. Several STAR guards confronted the four but efforts by Ed and Asami Koizumi to take down other guards allowed Virgil to knock Burton Thompson out with a fire extinguisher. The power went out, with Virgil thinking his powers must have trigged the outage, and Sam found the fire exit door unlocked, allowing them to escape.

The four headed to the bus station, where Virgil called his parents. He explained to the others that he hadn't run away from home but he was kidnapped while waiting at the train station for his sister, and that he asked his parents to wire money for bus tickets to his hometown, Dakota City. Virgil used his powers to pull a drink from a soda machine, but Tye warned him not to drink it because it was Reach. As Tye went to sleep, several STAR guards approached the station. Virgil tried to wake Tye up, but Tye manifested a large astral form, eventually pushing the roof off the bus station. He picked up Virgil, Sam and Ed and ran away with them into the nearby woodlands, where he set them down.

Blue Beetle eventually tracked them down and asked them to return to STAR. Virgil said he knew Beetle was one of the good guys but the four didn't want to go back. Beetle explained he understood how the four felt, revealing himself as Jaime Reyes and explaining to them about the Scarab. Virgil said the four would be safe with his parents but Jaime told them that would put Virgil's parents in danger. Jaime then suggested the four meet with Green Beetle.

As the five walked along a roadway, Jaime took a phone call from Nightwing. The others could hear the conversation about Red Volcano attacking STAR Labs in Taos, given the high volume Jaime set his phone. Beetle told the others to stay put, and after he left, Ed said he was worried about his father. Virgil said he understood and he would go back with Ed, then Tye and Sam agreed to go as well.



When the four returned and found Volcano trapping Beetle underground, Tye directed the others to deal with Volcano while he helped Beetle. Inside STAR Labs, Virgil joined Sam in attacking Volcano after Ed rescued his father but neither one's attacks were effective. Tye, having rescued Beetle, intervened by using his astral form to grab Volcano.

Outside STAR Labs, as Beetle battled Volcano, Virgil noticed Beetle's attack was casing the STAR building to crumble. He directed the others to rescue everybody inside. He lifted some girders to rescue a trapped Burton Thompson. After the four got everyone out, Volcano trapped them in fists of earth and demanded Blue Beetle stand down, but Beetle pressed his assault, forcing Virgil and the others to free themselves. After defeating Volcano, Beetle demanded the four come with him to meet Green Beetle, rejecting Tye's protest. When reporters arrived to talk to Beetle, Virgil and the others left the scene.

They returned to the bus station, Virgil telling the others that nobody would think to look for them there. They were met by Lex Luthor, who told them he was suspicious of the Reach, that he had the resources to protect them and to allow them to control their own destinies.

Powers and abilities

 * Electromagnetism: After being experimented on by the Reach for the Meta-Gene, Virgil developed the ability to magnetize objects.

Background in other media

 * Virgil Hawkins is the hero known as Static, a Milestone Comics character. Virgil was a comic book and fantasy geek, and after gaining electromagnetic powers at a gang fight known as the Big Bang, he decided to become a superhero. He was a member of the Heroes and an associate of the Shadow Cabinet. Following the success of the animated TV series Static Shock, he has been used in the mainstream universe, where he became a member of the Teen Titans.
 * This is Virgil's second animated appearance; he previously appeared in the DCAU as the main character in Static Shock and later appeared as a guest star in Justice League Unlimited.