Animated, Kids WB, 23 Sep 2000-5 May 2001; Plot Summary: Static Shock! is an original animated series about the first teenage African American superhero. Clever and resourceful Virgil Hawkins acquires "electromagnetic" superpowers after exposure to a "mutanic gas." He puts on the persona of Static, an urban hero that he created. The series tries to confront real problems and issues faced by today's kids, such as "peer pressure, gangs and growing up in an ethnically diverse urban neighborhood." Virgil must master his powers, figure out how to patrol the skies at night, and (in the teen hero pattern invented for Spiderman), still make it home in time to study for his chemistry class. Virgil's greatest discovery becomes the real "charge" (pun intended) that he gets from helping people and making a positive change in his community.
