History NightmareFuel / StaticShock

* Even before the Big Bang, we open up on a disturbingly realistic take on gang violence in high school. Virgil's constantly getting harassed and beaten for no good reason by F-Stop (Soon to be known as Hotstreak) and his goons. The only person looking out for him is Wade, an acquaintance and gangbanger. It's made clear pretty quickly that Virgil's only hope of surviving high school is to throw in with Wade and his boys. Then Wade starts talking about a big throwdown at the docks...

* Before gaining his power and renaming himself Hotstreak, Francis "F-Stop" Stone was a gang leader who viciously bullied Virgil. In the first episode "Shock to the System", F-Stop ''ragdolls Virgil at a locker'' and nearly beats him up before rival gang leader Wade intervened. F-Stop doesn't stop there as he and his gang corner Virgil at an alley way after school and proceeds to give him a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown before hightailing it when he's told of Wade's arrival, but not before telling Virgil he'll be seeing more of him.

* "[[VerySpecialEpisode Jimmy]]" is both this and a TearJerker, as it's about a more realistic problem uncommon in kids' shows: bullying and '''gun violence'''. Virgil and Richie befriend a loner named Jimmy, who's repeatedly harassed by a gang of bullies; he becomes so depressed and enraged, that he steals his dad's gun and tries to murder his tormentors. Instead, he accidentally (though non-fatally) shoots Richie by mistake.

Despite being targeted towards pre-teens, ''WesternAnimation/StaticShock'' stands out from every other superhero cartoon in the 2000s by having a Afican-American as the main character and actually having the balls to show us the struggles of life. Naturally, [[NightmareFuel trauma-inducing horrors]] are to be expected.

* The government is fully willing to use an untested radioactive element on a large group of teenagers. Many of which die in the hospital and undergo incredibly painful BodyHorror in the process.

* There's something deeply unsettling about Ebon's kidnapping of Richie in "Sons of the Fathers". It happens right after Richie tells Static he can get home on his own and since that episode was early in the show's run, Richie is powerless and alone with no one realizing he's been kidnapped until much later. Plus Ebon finally gets sick of waiting for Static to show up and Richie's DefiantCaptive act so he apparently decides to ''kill his prisoner''.

* When Robert Hawkins gets kidnapped, Virgil isn't joking around against his usual suspects. It is made clear why going after a family member is incredibly a ballsy move because Virgil made short work with all the Bang Babies he usually has trouble with, if he wanted to, he could have easily killed them and they knew it.
* In "Aftershock", Static comes pretty close to actually being killed by guards at Alva Industries. Later in the series, the company remains interested in capturing and/or killing Static, as shown by "The New Kid". The ''real'' Nightmare Fuel kicks in when you remember that [[WouldHurtAChild Static is fourteen years old at this point.]] Maybe they don't know that they're hunting a ''freshman in high school'', but the audience sure does.

** In the final episode, after all the Bang Babies lose their powers, Ebon and Hotstreak steal another canister of the Quantum Vapor to regain their powers. [[spoiler:They inhale so much of the gas that they somehow [[FusionDance merge their bodies together]], transforming into some kind of two-headed giant monster that looks like a LivingShadow [[PlayingWithFire covered in flames]]. The Ebon-Hotstreak monster even tried to [[ToServeMan eat Static and Gear alive]].]]

NightmareFuel in ''WesternAnimation/StaticShock''.

* When Robert Hawkins gets kidnapped, Virgil isn't joking around against his usual suspects. It is made clear why going after a family member is incredibly a ballsy move because Virgil made short work with all the Bang Babies he usually has trouble with, if he wanted to, he could have easily killed them and they knew it.

* The government is fully willing to use an untested radioactive element on a large group of teenagers.

* In "Duped", Replikon kidnaps A.J. [=McLean=] and steals his identity. Eventually, when he decides he doesn't need A.J. anymore, he shape shifts into a werewolf, says, "All you're good for is lunch meat!", and attacks him. Fortunately, A.J. untied himself and was able to run until Static showed up.

** In the final episode, after all the Bang Babies lose their powers, Ebon and Hotstreak steal another canister of the Quantum Vapor to regain their powers. [[spoiler:They inhale so much of the gas that they somehow [[FusionDance merge their bodies together]], transforming into some kind of two-headed EldritchAbomination that looks like a LivingShadow [[PlayingWithFire covered in flames]]. The Ebon-Hotstreak monster even tried to [[ToServeMan eat Static and Gear alive]].]]

* In "Duped", Replikon kidnaps A.J. [=McLean=] and steals his identity. Eventually, when he decides he doesn't need A.J. anymore, he shape shifts into a werewolf, says, "All you're good for is lunch meat!", and attacks him. Fortunately, A.J. untied himself and was able to run until Static showed up.
* Edwin Alva Jr overdosing himself on the Bang Baby gas in ''Junior''. First his body starts having uncontrollable mutations then, just as he's seemingly stabilizing, [[TakenForGranite turns to stone]] right in front of his father. While he does eventually get restored to flesh and blood later in the series, it certainly took months, perhaps more than a year, for it to happen. And the show never addressed [[{{And I Must Scream}} if he was conscious or not during the whole time]].

* Edwin Alva Jr overdosing himself on the Bang Baby gas in ''Junior''. First his body starts having uncontrollable mutations then, just as he's seemingly stabilizing, [[TakenForGranite turns to stone]] right in front of his father. While he does eventually get restored to flesh and blood later in the series, it certainly took months, perhaps more than a year, for it to happen. And the show never addressed [[{{And I Must Scream}} if he was conscious or not]].

* In "Duped", Replikon kidnaps A.J. [=McLean=] and steals his identity. Eventually, when he decides he doesn't need A.J. anymore, he shape shifts into a werewolf, says, "All you're good for is lunch meat!", and attacks him. Fortunately, A.J. untied himself and was able to run until Static showed up.

* There's something deeply unsettling about Ebon's kidnapping of Richie in "Sons of the Fathers". It happens right after Richie tells Static he can get home on his own and since that episode was early in the show's run, Richie is powerless and alone with no one realizing he's been kidnapped until much later. Plus Ebon finally gets sick of waiting for Static to show up and Richie's DefiantCaptive act so he apparently decides to ''kill his prisoner''.

* During the two-part crossover with the ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'', ComicBook/{{Brainiac}} (one of ComicBook/{{Superman}}'s [[KnightOfCerebus worst enemies]]) seizes control of the Justice League's Watchtower, intending to destroy Earth while the League is distracted by a fake distress call elsewhere. Brainiac later [[GrandTheftMe hijacks Richie's body]], and then continues his plans to destroy the world. Poor Static is so troubled about being forced to fight his best friend.

* Many of the Bang Babies [[TransformationHorror have mutated in rather disturbing ways]].
** In the immediate aftermath of the Big Bang, we see some victims in the hospital, including a guy whose body was ''melting''. [[FridgeHorror It's possible that some of them didn't survive their transformations]].
** Ebon, who became a shapeshifting LivingShadow who can phase and teleport through walls.

* "[[VerySpecialEpisode Jimmy]]" is both this and a TearJerker, as it's about a more realistic problem uncommon in kids' shows: bullying ''and gun violence''. Virgil and Richie befriend a loner named Jimmy, who's repeatedly harassed by a gang of bullies; he becomes so depressed and enraged, that he steals his dad's gun and tries to murder his tormentors. Instead, he accidentally (though non-fatally) shoots Richie by mistake.