Michael B. Jordan, Outlier Society to Produce DC Movie ‘Static Shock’ (Exclusive)

The move jolts the project up a few kilowatts, giving the cult hero some firepower as it goes into active development.

“I’m proud to be a part of building a new universe centered around black superheroes; our community deserves that,” said Jordan in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter. “Outlier Society is committed to bringing to life diverse comic book content across all platforms and we are excited to partner with Reggie and Warner Bros on this initial step.”

Outlier will be in the creative center of the Static feature and for Jordan, a comic book fan, this is an opportunity for not only for some world-building but to be directly involved in franchise-building. Should the first movie spark a hit, a multi-platform franchise could be born.

The project centers on Static, who first appeared in 1993’s Static no. 1 via Milestone Comics, a now-defunct company founded by Black writers and artists to help make comics a more inclusive space and which had distribution through DC.

A decade later the hero was revived for the Static Shock animated series, centering on Virgil Hawkins, a teenager who transforms into a superhero who gains electromagnetic powers after being exposed to strange gas. The series was noteworthy for being the rare animated show to be headlined by a Black character. The hero made his way to the mainstream DC Comics universe in 2008.

DC is relaunching Milestone with Hudlin, now a partner in the label, at the center of it. He is writing an all-new Static Shock digital comic series beginning in Feb. 2021, as well as an additional Static Shock graphic novel by Hudlin, with art by Kyle Baker. A series reviving Icon and Rocket, by Hudlin and Milestone founder Denys Cowan, are also in the works.

Jordan, who starred with Chadwick Boseman in the pop cultural phenomenon Black Panther, last starred and produced the legal drama Just Mercy and performs the same duties on Without Remorse, a thriller due out from Amazon next year. He next shoots and produces A Journal for Jordan, a drama to be directed by Denzel Washington.

Jordan is repped by WME, M88 and attorney Greg Slewett.