After far too long out of the spotlight for a shockingly long time, the DC hero Static is finally back. After having recently appeared in the one-shot Milestone Returns, the electric-powered teenager—whose real name is Virgil Hawkins—will be starring in Static: Season One by Vita Ayala and Niklas Draper-Ivey.
While the young hero is arguably best known for starring in the Static Shock animated series and the Young Justice cartoon, most people are unaware of just how powerful he really is. This is a real pity, as Static is one of DC's most powerful young heroes and has more superpowers than almost anyone on the Justice League, with each of his abilities is even better than the last.
10 Electrocommunication With Electronic Devices
This is a pretty cool power, albeit a fairly basic one and is based on biology. Some aquatic creatures in real life can communicate with one another by transmitting weak electronic signals between each other.
Static can do this, albeit by sending signals into electronic devices—as most human biology is not exactly built to receive electromagnetic waves of language. He is basically a human radio, cell phone, and walkie-talkie rolled into one.
9 Electronic Disruption To Mess With His Enemies
Not only can Static generate and control electricity, but he can also interrupt the flow of electrical currents that are around him and disrupt nearby electronic devices.
Considering how many villains use mechs and other advanced bits of technology, having the ability to shut these down on a whim gives him an incredible advantage. It also lets him control the flow of information by shutting down phone signals.
8 Flight To Help Him Get Around
The ability to fly is one of the most important powers a superhero can have. It is also one of the most common abilities, as well as one of the most dangerous. Even people whose powers are based on defying gravity can pancake against the side of a skyscraper if they're not careful, and that is not how Static's powers work.
By using his magnetic abilities, Static flies through the air by standing on a metal disc which he makes hover above the ground. As such, he can get anywhere in Dakota City quickly and dodge incoming attacks. However, Static is not invulnerable. If rain makes the disc too slippery or if he loses concentration during a fight, it is not hard to imagine he could fall to his death, as he lacks the requisite powers to withstand sudden impact with concrete.
7 Psychic Resistance Protects Him From Villains
Static controls electrical signals and the brain runs on electricity. As such, he has incredible control over the signals within his own brain and can detect anything that might disrupt them.
This control extends to being able to resist the influence of psychics, hypnosis, and other types of mind control. The power also no doubt lends itself to his first power—the one that he had before getting the others.
6 Genius Intellect Means He Can Do Anything
The sheer brilliance of Virgil Hawkins’s mind should not be underestimated. He is truly brilliant and capable of achieving things far beyond what would be expected from someone his age.
Whether dealing with science, math, or tactics, he is able to out-think most people he encounters, giving him an edge in life. This is not technically a formal superpower but he is smart enough that he could have become a superhero even without his supernatural abilities.
5 Electrostatic Force Fields To Act As Protection
Like Magneto of Marvel’s X-Men, Static is able to generate force fields around himself by using his electrostatic and electromagnetic powers.
There are numerous ways these can work. With the magnetic aspects, he can hypothetically slow or stop bullets and other metal projectiles, while his electrostatic force fields will stop humans trying to get too close. He has also used these force fields for crowd control by projecting them into mobs of angry people.
4 Energy Absorption To Boost His Powers
In a world where people can hurl energy blasts and where laser guns shoot more than just bullets, the ability to absorb energy is quite handy. While Static specifically has electrical abilities, he can absorb and even redirect most energy across the electromagnetic spectrum.
This does not merely protect him from harm but also can protect civilians who might be caught in the crossfire when things get crazy.
3 Electric Shocks To Disable Enemies
The most famous of his many powers are the discharges of electricity that Static shoots from his body. Obviously, these are what he thought of when he chose his superhero name.
Hurling thunderheads like the Greek god Zeus is a level of power that is absolutely insane and gives him the ability to bring down powerful enemies, but Static also has the amount of control needed to use these sparks for numerous applications from powering up electronics to creating taser-like incapacitating bolts that do a minimal amount of damage to unpowered people.
2 Control Over Metal
Another power that is similar to Magneto’s is Static’s ability to control metal. Whether this should be called magnetism or ferrokinesis or something else is up for debate, but there is no debating the incredible strength of such an ability
Static can bend metal into any shape with his mind and cause it to fly through the air on a whim This lets him make cages around his enemies and destroy their weapons in their hands.
1 Technopathy To Interfere With Electronics
Technopathy is the ability to mentally interface with machines. Whether remotely hacking into a computer, grabbing electronic signals out of the air, or even hijacking whatever over-the-top invention a mad scientist decides to unleash, it all comes under the same umbrella.
In a world where all information is digitized and almost everything runs on electricity, this is genuinely one of the most incredible superpowers a person can have. Static could hypothetically take control of the Justice League watchtower or remotely pilot one of Batman’s mechsuits.