Virgil Hawkins

* Virgil Hawkins
* Static

**Virgil Hawkins** is **Static**, a teenage superhero in Dakota City with electromagnetic powers who gained his powers in the Big Bang. He has been a member of the Heroes and the Teen Titans.

## Character Origins

### Virgil Hawkins: 2000 - 2014

Virgil Hawkins is the youngest child of Robert and Jean Hawkins. At a young age, Virgil lost his mother, a paramedic, was hit by a stray bullet, while helping the victims of a gang riot. She died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. To combat this gang violence which nearly tore his family apart, Virgil’s father set up the Freeman Community Center in Dakota City. This place became a second home for Virgil and his sister and through it, Virgil became involved in a number of extracurricular activities to work through his mourning and depression. These interests fostered a curiosity for knowledge and developed a strong work ethic, which in turn combined to make Virgil a promising honor roll student.

Yet despite his father’s best efforts, Virgil still became embroiled in the gang culture. At age 14, Virgil became the preferred target to the school bully and a member of a notorious street gang, Francis “F-Stop” Stone. When the school’s teachers failed to help Virgil’s predicament, Virgil allowed himself to become groomed by a gang that rivaled F-Stop’s own and found the protection he sought but at an uncomfortable price.

As Virgil began to realize that he was becoming the type of person responsible for his mother’s death, he became withdrawn and distant from his family, afraid that his involvement in a gang would not only disappoint his father and sister, but may put them in danger as well. As Virgil’s conscience reached a boiling point, he heard of an unprecedented intercity gang summit. Virgil devised a plan to record the summit for the police, hoping such would be his ticket out of the thug life. However, upon Virgil arriving at the summit in a warehouse on the docks, he discovered that the meeting was not some turf negotiation as expected but instead called by the Red Claw who was looking to recruit a small army of Dakota’s street kids to help transport, store, and deal some new designers drug on Dakota’s streets.

In the midst of this meeting, Dakota City PD rolled up and surrounded the place. With what happened next you can say Virgil’s life was in for quite the shock!! (Oh, I love puns)

### Static: 2014 - Present

The Dakota PD was expecting a big gang bust, not a big bang. At the first sign of trouble, Nyssa al Ghul and her elite guard of ninja cosplayers fled, hanging the gangbangers out to dry. To make sure the designers drugs could not be connected to the League, Nyssa set off explosives hidden among the barrels of drugs. A dozen of Dakota’s young gangbangers died in that first explosion, dozens more in the inferno that followed. Those that didn’t die were transformed by the drugs’ fumes mixing with the smoke and tear gas from the ensuing police raid or when they were showered from the particulate debris of the drugs’ base ingredients. In Dakota, they call this event the “Bang” and overnight Dakota’s gang problem took a backseat.

Those transformed by the Bang were dubbed “Bang Babies” and since most used their powers to further their criminal rep, they were such a problem that Icon and Rocket requested aid from the Justice League and martial law was declared in Dakota for a time. But relief was on its was, for there was one participant who survived the Bang and he was determined to do good with his powers.

Virgil Hawkins had been endowed with control over electricity and magnetism and though his newfound powers had wiped the memory of his phone (and with it the recording of the meeting), these powers would be Virgil’s path toward redemption. With the help of his best friends Richie Foley and Frieda Goren, Virgil made a makeshift costume and dubbed himself “Static”. After some learning curves, Virgil became a regular hero. You know the drill: fight criminals, chase the bad guys, save the world, fly through skies, et cetera. Things were looking good for this trash-can surfing high-voltage hero that he made joining the Titans look easy. Now, if he could just get people to stop calling him “Static Shock”…

Nowadays, Virgil has a surprisingly posh lair hidden inside a dilapidated gas station. He’s even got not one but two “Oracles” with Richie and Frieda having an impressive set-up for all of Virgil’s communication and investigation needs. Not bad for a trio of high-school heroes. I’ve even inducted Richie and Frieda into the Network with the codenames “Gear” and “Wunderkind”.

## Powers, Abilities and Weaknesses

### Powers

* **Bang Baby**: Static's physiology was altered by a mutant-genetic explosion which caused him to adapt unusual powers. Static's body itself can generate raw electromagnetic energy, which he has learned to manipulate, control and enhance.
	+ **Super-Conductive Electromagnetism**: Static can sense sources of electromagnetic energy or objects that can be affected by it such as underground water pipes. He can magnetize and demagnetize metals.
		- **Electromagnetic Fields**: Static generates an electromagnetic field just like the earth and the sun generate their own Electromagnetic fields. Static can also create barriers and shields that he can use to block, repel, hold back attacks and defend himself in battle.
		- **Mechanokinesis**: Static can capable of fixing or operating electronic devices through his electromagnetic manipulation. He can operate most devices just by touching, even if they are not plugged.
		- **Electromagnetic Levitation**: Static can cause objects to fly (metal is the easiest material to manipulate and wood is the most difficult).
		- **Wavelength Tuning**: Static can hear radio waves meaning he can listen in on the police broadband and music stations, as well as tapping into the phone lines so he can make calls.
		- **Mental Resistance**: As the human brain is an electromagnetic organ, and due to his status as a metahuman amplifying his brain's capacities, Static has demonstrated considerable opposition to virtually all forms of hypnosis or mind control. He has overcome the telepathic assaults of The Swarm, avoided mental detection from Miss Martian, and, most notably, eventually even broke free of the Anti-Life Equation, a feat originally considered to be impossible.
	+ **Electrokinesis**: Static can generate electricity from his body and administer it in a range of different attacks and uses. He can charge devices, drain devices and project his electricity in a variety of controlled ways.
		- **Electrical Displays**: Static is able to project his electromagnetic energies in the form of energy-based constructs, such as disks, orbs, bursts, shields, platforms, force fields, and other projectiles or constructions.
		- **Electromagnetic Force Bolts**: Static can project powerful blasts and/or bursts of electromagnetic energy from his hands for uses allowing him to hit, push/pull or blow away his targets, and potentially exerting enough force to destroy them.
		- **Ball Lightning**: Named after Ball Lightning, the weather phenomenon. Electromagnetic Energy compressed into a large ball and thrown at targets; an offensive maneuver in a combat situation.
		- **Static Cling**: Static can adhere most objects or people to surfaces and other objects, plus Static can magnetize surfaces.
		- **Electrical Transformation**: Due to Static's power to generate electromagnetic energy, He is able to transform his entire body into pure electrical energy.
	+ **Healing Factor**: Virgil can recover from injuries faster than normal humans, having healed from a multitude of full-body stings from The Swarm in less than a day when they very well would've killed a regular person. Even so, he has been hurt severely enough to where either a nurse had to see him or Frieda had to care for him.

### Abilities

* **High Intelligence**: Static is a highly gifted student with particular skill in mathematics, science, and computers. His prowess in science is what allowed him to design and construct the hoverdisc that he flies on. Static also possesses an almost fanboyish knowledge of comic books, role playing games, and science fiction.
* **Tactical Analysis**: Static is able to apply his scientific knowledge in combat and real life situations and does so almost intuitively. This allows him a certain advantage over more powerful, but less intelligent, opponents.
* **Multilingualism**: Virgil has learned to speak German for unknown reasons and is fluent enough to carry on a simple conversation in the language.

### Weaknesses

* **Insulators:** Static's power has no affect on things that have natural resistance to his abilities, such as wood or rubber.
* **Power Absorption**: Static is vulnerable to having his power stolen from an outside force, such as the fellow electrokinetic Prometheus.
* **Vulnerability to Bang Babies**: For unknown reasons, Static can be affected by electricity-wielding metahumans whose powers are derived from Quantum Juice. Hence, the electrostatic bolts generated by the mad doctor Byron Kilgore caused pain to Static, who is normally immune to the effects of high voltage electricity. Why this vulnerability exists is a mystery.

## Paraphernalia

### Transportation

* **Static Saucer**: Static uses it to fly through the air.

### Weapons

* **Static Traps**: Normally, Static does not use any real weapons and mainly relies on his electromagnetic powers in battle. However, to defeat particularly formidable opponents, he will employ his "static traps," a well-planned use of his powers and everyday materials. These static traps were limited only by Static's creativity and the preparation time available.

## Notes

* Some details of Static's history may have since been altered following Final Crisis.
* Other than Rick Stone, Larry Wade, and Frieda Goren, Virgil is friends with Chuck Kane and Felix.
* Officially, Static has had three love interests; Daisy, Dusk, and Madison. Unofficially, he has displayed a mutual attraction to Rocket and silent sexual interest in Aquagirl. Virgil showed early romantic interest in his best friend Frieda for a while and though this was diluted overtime, it is shown that when he grows up, he ultimately marries and starts a family with her.

## Trivia

* Static has had a few nicknames and street names, they include "Kilowatt Kid", "Sparky", "V-man", "Virg", and "Hero".
* Early in his superhero career, Static flew using everyday metal objects like garbage can lids. He now flies on a hover disc of his own design and construction.
* Static's secret identity, "Virgil Hawkins", is named for an African-American man denied entry into the University of Flordia School of Law.
* Static's first and middle name, "Virgil" and "Ovid", are the names of Roman poets. His grandfather, "Homer Hawkins", is presumably (or coincidentally) named for the legendary author of the poems the *Iliad* and the *Odyssey*.
* Virgil is shown to dislike his middle name, as in the first issue, he playfully scolded Frieda to never speak it out loud.