Awesome / Static Shock

Awesome moments in Static Shock.

• It almost goes without saying, but Virgil when he first becomes Static. He quickly gets a feel for his new powers and decides to become a superhero with them. He really deserved being a part of the DCAU and becoming one of Earth's mightiest heroes.
  • When Richie brings up the thought of Virgil being a superhero, it's clear that Virgil didn't even think of that and immediately jumped to the idea. Most of the people who were involved of the Big Bang either decide to use them for selfish reasons or downright villainy, but Virgil must have been the first one to think "I can be a superhero!"
  • Not to mention, being a hero runs in the family, his father inspires the youth to stay on the right path and his mother died protecting the injured.
• The Cool Old Lady who maced Shiv in "Sons of the Fathers". Props, lady; major props.
  • Virgil's father Robert in the same episode. When Richie has run off after blasting his dad for his racism, the man ends up at Mr. Hawkins's office and tries to excuse his racism. Robert calmly and quietly but firmly blasts aside everything thrown at him.
    Sean: What your son heard, Hawkins, I wasn't talking about him.
    Robert: No, you were just talking about his kind, that's all. Well I know your kind, Foley. I've seen your kind all my life: a fine upstanding bigot, his nose so close to the grindstone he can't see anything else. Meanwhile, the world changes and grows, and he's blind to it, ignorant, and proud of that too; and you know the worst part?
    Sean: I'm sure you'll tell me.
    Robert: You've got a terrific son, one of the best and brightest around, and because of the way you are, you'll never really know him. Richie ran away from you a long time ago, Foley, and who could blame him?
  • Especially awesome moment for Richie when you think about the kind of environment he must've been raised in, being as open minded as he wound up was an achievement in itself, especially considering how a lot of people take after the mindsets they're exposed to as children.
    • Some Fridge Brilliance (and possibly Fridge Horror) kicks in when you realize that Robert is in his late '40s or early '50s in the early 2000s. When he mentions the racism and prejudice he's seen "all his life," he's likely referring to the American Civil Rights Movement, as he would have been a teenager around then. Robert lived through an age of massive protests, bigotry, and violence, but retains a strong moral code and isn't afraid to call out evil when he sees it. Bad. Ass.
• Small moment in "Winds of Change" when Richie tries to take down Slipstream on his own. He gets injured in the process and doesn't fare too well against the bang baby, but demonstrates a lot of courage and ingenuity. Bonus points for the foreshadowing for his becoming a superhero.
• "Power Play": What started as a case study into Richie's turned into this for Virgil's friend. After getting addicted into temporarily gaining superpowers, the villains try to coax him into helping them rob a bank. Instead, he triggers the alarm, alerting Static and helping him take down the accomplices.
  • Then Richie ends up saving Static by himself and with no powers by taking down the ringleader draining the power out of his friend, proving he doesn't need any powers to save the day.
• In "Brother-Sister Act," the villainous Bang Baby Boom forces his also-empowered little sister Mirage to help him commit crimes. Mirage is reluctant throughout the whole episode, as she's retained her moral compass, but still helps him because he's her brother. But when Boom finally snaps and starts becoming dangerously violent, Mirage takes a level in badass and turns her powers against him, letting Static save the day. Brother or no brother, she is not going to stand by while innocent civilians are in danger.
  • Even better is her Pre-Asskicking One-Liner before she finally taps into the full use of her powers (which she'd been reluctant to do because she hates having them):
    Mirage: This...has to stop!
  • Speaking of sisters, Sharon deserves a mention for this episode too. Though she's often depicted as a clueless Bratty Teenage Daughter, in this case she uses intuition, logic, and some old-fashioned detective work to prove that Static is actually Virgil. She actually figures out the secret and comes extremely close to exposing the truth; Virgil only gets out of it because Mirage uses her light-manipulating gifts to create an illusion of him flying away. This episode cemented that awesomeness truly runs in the Hawkins family.
• Special Guest Shaquille O'Neal gets one in "Static Shaq" by holding off three supervillains by himself, buying Virgil time to change back to Static and help him put them away.
• From "Attack of the Living Brain Puppets":
  "YOU...WILL DO...AS I...COMMAND!"
  "NO...I...WON'T!!"
• Rubberband Man vs Ebon. When Ebon tries to get Rubberband Man to let him off from his crimes. Trying to use the excuse that they're family-and because of such, RBM should let him go free to do as he pleases. Rubberband Man in a moment of awesomeness-saying that doing what's right and following the law, is more important.
  Ebon: Blood is thicker than water!
  Rubberband Man: And what's right and wrong is thicker than blood!
  • Not only does he beat Ebon, but Rubberband Man has a throwaway line, "Always could take him" implying that not only is he genuinely stronger than Ebon, he was stronger before the Big Bang too. Nice shot for the little brother.
  • Another awesome moment for Rubberband Man: near the end of "Where the Rubber Meets the Road", a fusion reactor is on the verge of going critical, and the only one close enough to attempt to disarm it is Rubberband Man. He normally wouldn't be able to read the directions due to having dyslexia, except that he's developed a neat trick (involving stretching part of his arm to match the writing and reading it in a fashion similar to Braille) to get around it. The trick works right up to the last step, when he hits a word that he can't make sense of... at which point, good old fashion deductive logic kicks in: he knows from the rest of that step that the last word is either "clockwise" or "counter-clockwise" and it's too long for the former. By the time Static and Gear arrive to help, he tosses them the now-disarmed core. Overcomes his biggest personal issue and saves the city... not too shabby.
• A.J. McLean comes to the rescue in "Duped" After being rescued by Static from Replikon, a shapeshifting metahuman, the villain turns to wood, something Static has trouble fighting against. How did McLean help? By placing headphones on the villain's ears and blasting it at full volume, giving Static the distraction needed to gain the upper hand. And the kicker?
  Static: Thanks, that must have been some wicked reverb you fed him.
  McLean: Nope, just his own bad music.
  • Freida and Daisy deserve special props as well for figuring out the impostor before Virgil or Richie could.
• Static turning The Joker's own joke against him. (Joker pretended he was injured so he could attack Batman with his joybuzzer.) A hand grabs the Joker's, setting off the electricity from the buzzer... Joker laughs, thinking he pulled one over on Batman. ("Hahahahehehe, got you!") But, much to his surprise, it wasn't Batman. It was Static that he tried to electrocute. He then goes: "That was fun. Let me try!" and sends a big shock into the Joker, who passes out. Even better, this impressed Batman! ("Not bad.") Virgil appropriately grins at the compliment given to him by the goddamn Dark Knight!
  • Even better is the look of utter "Oh, Crap!" in the Joker's face just before Static shocks him.
  • And then he does it again in the Batman Beyond episode with one of the Jokerz. Very nonchalantly, at that.
  Static: Now I get it. Schway.
  • His epic version of the Batman Signal, lighting up the sky with a huge lightning bat.
• Another crossover episode with Batman. In "Hard as Nails," they're trying to find a "bang baby" who got caught up with the wrong crowd, Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy. So they're fighting on a ship in the harbor and Harley is dodging everything Static throws at her, taunting him all the while. What does Static do? He charges up and zaps the entire ship in one shot. Harley gets lit up like a neon sign in Vegas. "Wait for it," indeed.
  • In the same episode, Static having the guts to actually call Batman out on his modus operandi. Batman wanted to track down and arrest the innocent Bang Baby because "she left [them] for dead". Static knows that she is a teenager going through a rough time and flat out tells Batman he's wrong about something.
  • Also from this episode: Static's Stealth Hi/Bye impresses said Bang Baby, Harley and Ivy, making Batman somewhat proud (as Stealth Hi/Bye is part of Batman's modus operandi).
    Batman: The kid's got style.
  • Furthermore, Static managed to talk the Bang Baby - Nails - down from attacking Harley and Ivy through cold logic:
    Nails: They hurt me! This is payback!
    Static: And then what?! Spend the rest of your life hiding from guys like [Batman]...or me?
• The show's resident woobie Richie, who had spent the better half of two seasons being Static's mechanic, Butt-Monkey, and damsel in distress, finally gets his chance to rescue Static for a change. He puts on a helmet and ROCKET POWERED ROLLER SKATES, smirks at the camera, goes to the villain's hideout, and proceeds to incapacitate every metahuman thrown his way.
  Shiv: (sneaking up on what he assumes is Richie in hiding) You're not Kangorr... GOT YA! ...Huh?
  Richie: (suddenly appearing behind Shiv) Nope. Got YOU.
• Virgil's mom, Jean Hawkins, in "Flashback". Despite now knowing that she'll die on that fateful day thanks to a time-traveling Static from five years in the future revealing her fate, she still decides to risk her life to help the injured. One thing that does change in the timeline is Jean talking about how Virgil makes her proud to have a son. Her actions finally help Virgil make peace with his mom's death.
• Another Richie/Gear CMOA is when he defeats Brainiac with POP MUSIC. Brainiac then epically one-ups him by declaring he would be back to "lay the funk DOOOOWN". He makes good on his promise before the end of the episode, appearing in backpack at the cliffhanger ending.
• In "Blast From The Past", when Sparky bails Static and Soul Power out after Professor Menace drains their electricity. With a cry of "Soul Power!" the three superheroes recharge in a blast of Shock and Awe that blows the roof off of the building they're standing in. Also when they track down Menace and stomp his giant Killer Robot as Soul Power faces down Menace.
• In A League of Their Own, Part II, Brainiac sends five possessed members of the Justice League after Static. He breaks four of them out on his own. You read that right: a teenager goes toe-to-toe with about half the Justice League. And wins. No wonder they recruit him later.
  • Equally awesome in context is Static's Pre-Asskicking One-Liner, when he warns the Justice League that he doesn't want to hurt them. You read that right. There's something inspiring about the sheer guts implied by that statement.
• Toyman gets one in the Superman crossover "Toys of the Hood". While he genuinely fell in love with Darci, the robot whom he was trying to give a real identity, he was not blind to betrayal, and created a fail safe in the event that Darci did. When she tries to con him, he throws the antidote away. Stone cold and badass.
  Toyman: I may be a fool for love, darling, but I'm no dope. I programmed a failsafe mechanism in case you betray me. Again. Even now, the nanites are liquifying your body. And I'm the only one with the antidote.
  Darcy: Help me, my love. Please.
  Toyman: [throws the antidote into a vat of molten plastic] Sorry, Darcy. But you should have played fair.
• "Romeo in the Mix": The episode with guest star Lil' Romeo has him outsmarting Leech—who is capable of absorbing meta-human powers including Static's—by remembering a very important thing about electricity. Having dressed as Static (which gives him some electrical powers but not to Static's extent) uses it to activate the sprinklers and short circuits the villain.
• In "She-Back!", Shebang is captured by the villains, largely because of her carelessness. She manipulates Ebon (who is angry at being usurped) into attacking the new leader; the end result? Ebon is out cold and the new leader is in a weakened enough state for Static and Richie to take her down.
• Sinestro in "Fallen Hero": Right after Green Lantern tells him that he'll never get the power of his ring, Sinestro whips out a keychain with 12 Lantern rings attached, making it clear that he's ruining Stewart's life for nothing but a souvenir.
  • Of course, this leads to an MOA for the good guys, since Sinestro didn't take into account that John Stewart's ring could be - and is - recharged by Static. Thus, GL gets to make a big light show of taking down Sinestro.
• Talon gets a small one in the series finale. When a cure for those affected by the Big Bang is found and has been released into the air, all of the metahumans begin losing their powers and returning to normal, which for Talon, is a relief. But Ebon refuses to let this happen, and steals a canister of the gas, intending to set off a second Big Bang. Talon, who he had also kidnapped, calls him out and reveals the true reason why he's doing this in a pretty awesome way.
  Talon: (to Ebon) You're scared. You were nothing before the Big Bang, and that's what you're gonna be again. Nothing!