Back in August, during the first part of Warner Bros. big DC FanDome event, one of the biggest surprises was the return of Milestone Comics, whose creative team, including Reginald Hudlin, announced a movie based on the company's Static character. As the project moves forward, Michael B. Jordan will join it as producer.
The imprint debuted as Milestone Media in 1993. Founded by black writers and artists Denys Cowan, Michael Davis, Derek T. Dingle and the late Dwayne McDuffie, and based on the belief that comics significantly underrepresented anyone outside of the dominant straight white demographic, Milestone Media was intended as a response to the problem. Its output, published through DC but retaining editorial and merchandise control internally, was set in the fictional city of Dakota, and referred to as the “Dakotaverse.” The Static comics featured teen hero Virgil Hawkins, who is exposed to a strange, mutagenic gas during an encounter with law enforcement and gains the ability to create, generate, absorb, and control electricity and magnetism. He takes up the alter-ego Static, and must deal with the less virtuous other powered people created at the same time, the "Bang Babies". In addition to comics, the character anchored a Static Shock animated series.
"I’m proud to be a part of building a new universe centered on black superheroes; our community deserves that," said Jordan in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter. “Outlier Society [his production company] 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."
There's no word on a writer or director yet, but this certainly moves the film ahead. Jordan seems unlikely to appear beyond a small role, but you never know what could happen if he's happy with the script...