DCEU ’22 Pitches 1: Milestones 2: Bound by Blood

The Deal: I pitch movies set in the DC or Marvel cinematic universes. Also other things. This pitch is a direct sequel to Milestones 1.

The Windup: Wait, I haven’t even finished up with ‘21’s Marvel pitches, so why am I posting the first of this year’s DC pitches? Procrastination? Time travel? Nope. It’s Juneteenth. Last Juneteenth, the first where it was officially a federal holiday, saw the posting of Milestones 1, following Milestone’s (the 90s own voices Black imprint) premier superhero trio, essentially their Superman, Iron Man and Spider-Man. Well, this here’s a sequel to that one, introducing Milestone’s take on the X-Men, as well as continuing the story of Icon, Hardware and Static. I’ve tried to modernize some elements, but as with last year, my pitch notwithstanding, this kind of project would need to be written and directed by Black professionals. As such, I’ve taken a relatively light hand, because I know enough to know that I don’t always know what I don’t know, you know? My goal here is to highlight the potential of a Black franchise, not whitesplain the work of Black artists or Elvisize it.

The rest of the DC pitches for ’22 will have to wait; I’ve got more to finish from the MCU ’21 pitches, so it will be a bit before more of these DC pitches happen (tentatively scheduled for mid-August) . If you want notifications of pitches, you can always follow me on the bird app.

The Pitch:

Night, at Alva Technologies. For a moment it’s a peaceful corporate campus. It’s subtle, but Rocket zooms into a window on one of the upper floors during this establishing shot.

We cut to the inside of the facility, into Curtis’ laboratory, and see his Hardware exosuit. Curtis and his most recent handler/assistant, Tiff, hear a boom from nearby. “What was that?” she asks, flat-footed.

Curtis dives for the assistant, pushing her out of the way as the metal door flies off its hinges where they had just been. We hear gunfire, as Icon walks into the room. Alva’s security, using high-tech assault weapons, are firing on him, hanging off him, desperately trying anything to even slow him down, and failing. He throws the one holding onto him into another shooting at him, as bullets ricochet near Curtis and the assistant. When the assistant tries to speak, Curtis covers her mouth. You can go one of two ways with the assistant; she can be Curtis’ protege that turns against him in her own suit of armor, Technique, or you can have him be the white supremacist patsy Curtis frames for joy-riding in the Hardware armor- I’m going to assume we do the former, because I want to play with all the action figures.

Icon looks up into the security camera pointed down at him. “You didn’t think that just because you stole Metcalf’s tech and expertise I’d let you keep them, did you?” Icon asks, before blasting the Hardware armor. If we’re looking for an opening credits montage, molten metal dripping off the armor could work. Icon turns his energy blasts next to the camera, before flying through the wall.

Cut to later, after Alva and more security arrive. He’s mid-lecture.

“You have close to a billion dollars worth of tech at your fingertips in this room, Curtis, and the second most impressive mind I’ve ever seen at work.”

“Yeah, the same tech your security used and he shrugged off- or that he melted without even having to try hard.”

Alva sighs. “Enough posturing, Curtis. Neither of us believe that armor was still nonfunctional, and we’ve both seen footage of someone wearing it out on the streets of our fair city. What I think happened, is you decide to steal my technology, and sell it to Arnus Freeman, only you tried to hardball him, and instead, well, you’ve cost me enough for a lifetime, I should think. You’re fired, with cause, so expect no severance, and if I can tie you to this catastrophe, you will be held liable to the fullest extent of the law, both criminal and civil. My lawyers will feast on whatever remains hanging off your bones.”

“Sir,” the assistant says, turning a screen towards Alva, “you should probably see this.” We see files rapidly changing in a server log, too quick to really understand.

“I’m too to important to guess at the significance of this.”

“Well, I believe it started with this.” She calls up security footage of Rocket accessing servers in their server room, attaching a drive of some sort. “It’s a worm. It crawled through our servers, and deleted everything Curtis Metcalf has ever touched. So far as I can see, that includes any consulting he did on other projects he wasn’t technically on. And… it happened just as the nightly back-up occurred; the worm was transferred to our offsite back-ups as well. It’s all gone.”

“You’re both fired,” Alva sneers. “And it might be prudent of you to flee the city, or possibly the state, in the event I’m feeling vengeful later.”

Alva’s security escort both of them out of the building at gunpoint. The assistant is hostile, clearly blaming him. “Tiff, I’m sorry,” she storms off.

Curtis walks past his company car, that security have already booted. “Company car,” one of them says to him, and he keeps walking with his box of goods.

We cut to deeper in the city. Curtis passes an alley, and is grabbed and pulled inside. “You didn’t think you’d evade me that easily, did you?” It’s Icon, but aside from projecting menace, he’s paused.

“Were we followed?” Curtis asks over an earpiece.

We cut to the sky above them, where Rocket is surveilling from just beneath cloud cover. “Clear skies,” she says over their radios, then dives, landing at the entrance to the alleyway, seemlessly moving from flight to walking. “No drones, no cars, no foot pursuit. You were right- Alva got so pissed he acted without thinking.”

Curtis touches a brick in the wall, and it scans his fingerprints. The bricks start to slide away, creating a doorway, that they all go inside. This is a hole new lab, better than the one at Alva, outfitted by Arnus, and supplying him with myriad alien tech, as well. At the center of the room is the real suit of Hardware armor, newly upgraded, augmented and visually redesigned both to sell a whole new series of action figures and to hide the stolen tech from Alva (and his lawyers).

“Think he bought it?” Icon asks.

“Not sure it matters,” Curtis says. “This tech is 9 generations from the suit he knew about. Even if they can reconstruct the data- which I doubt- they don’t have anyone left on their payroll smart enough to tie it to their tech. Tiff might have been able to, but he canned her with me.”

“You think we should bring her in on this?” Rocket asks, because she’s emotionally the most intuitive of the trio.

“Thought about it. But there’s no safe way out if we do. She says no, she’s a liability to us- it’s coercive even to ask. She says yes, and she could have Alva chasing her for payback the rest of her days. I’ll email her in a couple days, offer to get her a letter of recommendation.”

“I could offer her a job,” Arnus says.

“Same problem. We let her be with us, no matter how clever you are about hiding her in some shell company, and Alva will come after her. She’s smart, she’ll bounce back.”

We cut to the alley. She’s listening on a bug she planted in Curtis’ things. She hits the brick wall, we think out of frustration. But then she plugs a wire from a gauntlet into the hole she made, and hacks his transformer wall. “Screw that,” she says testily. “Who do you think you are freezing me out like this?”

“I think that settles your moral conundrum,” Rocket says, bemused.

“Tiff, why don’t you come inside?” Curtis asks. She does, and the door closes behind her. “Tiff, this is Arnus and Rocket. I think maybe we should talk.”

Static gets his own action scene, since he’s the more popular character of the group. He’s flying along on a manhole cover, chasing down a couple of member’s of Francis’ gang. I’m thinking they’ve stolen a backpack with a laptop in it from a fellow classmate on the way to school, and are trying to run away with it. Static swoops in among traffic, to much honking. He’s got his finished costume, now, and is clearly more steady flying. He zaps one on the butt, making him bonk his head on a street sign, then yanks a stop sign off its post, slides it under the running thug then pulls it out from under him to get a nice, satisfying, Home Alone style fall. Static is standing there triumphant holding out the girl’s backpack when off-screen we hear the sound of breaks squealing, a crash, and horns honking, and he realizes he hasn’t put the stop sign back. He winces, pantomimes “Sorry” and floats the sign back in place.

Static slides into his seat by the classroom door as the bell rings; he was in enough of a hurry he neglected to remove his mask. Rick is seated next to him, trying to get his attention whispering, “Dude” and miming removing the mask. He takes a moment to understand, and tears it off just as the teacher turns and notices him (just missing the mask).

At lunch, Rick tells Virgil he’d really like a chance to talk, that if he’s got a moment after lunch… but Virgil already promised he’d meet with the friendly gang leader to talk about Francis. He’s the same friendly-ish character from the last movie, only now he’s resembling, more and more, the Blood Syndicate’s Tech (sometimes called Tech-9 in the comics, but we don’t want to open up a trademark dispute- we’d lose- and Tech is a better overall name, anyway). He’s appreciative of what Virgil did for their sister (in the communal, not familial, sense), retrieving the girl’s bag during our chase scene, and once again offers Virgil the opportunity to join. But Virgil is savvy enough to know better, and declines. That hurts Tech’s pride, a little, because he’d prefer to have asked Virgil for help as a peer- but now finds himself coming hat in hand.

A quick aside, on Tech’s entourage. Masquerade is a shape-shifter; assigned male at birth, she’s been female since Freshman year, but once she got her powers, was able to look how she always felt. She’s got it bad for Tech, and he’s mostly playing like he doesn’t see it. Also with them are Fade, who is gay, but closeted, and might be the last person to know that he’s in love with Wise Son. They’re all a little skeptical of Static; Tech views him as a partner, even if he won’t join up, same as the ministers he distributes food through (his gang is modeled very much more on the Black Panthers- a civic-minded organization); some of that is Masquerade’s influence; she’s always been the angel on his shoulder.

One of their members was hit especially hard by her transformation. She was always autistic, but had been at least somewhat towards the Asperger’s end of the spectrum, but the mutagen interacted poorly with her condition, and she’s been really struggling since. Tech befriended her when they were kids. Because of her conditions she was teased, bullied for being “thick as a brick.” Boys stopped teasing her when she got older (and prettier); they didn’t understand that calling her “Brickhouse” would call back to their cruelty, and ensure she’d never want anything to do with them. Tech’s looked out for her his entire life- though this has its flaws- he steered her towards the same gang he was in for protection.

But since the accident she’s been different, more volatile, more susceptible to anxiety and triggers. She’s been staying with him as he tries to care for her, but he’s always viewed her as a sister, while for her he’s always been her knight in shining armor. Not wholly understanding the situation, she made a pass at him; even if he were interested, at that moment, when she’s most vulnerable, and most dependent on him for her survival, would not be the right time to consummate it. Tech blames himself when the combination of the anxiety and rejection makes her leave. But it gets worse. Ever since her mutation, Francis has been sniffing around, trying to recruit her for his gang. It’s predatory, and creepy.

Static is, of course, immediately sympathetic, and wants to help. This might be a good moment to clarify our status quo. Clearly, Hardware and Icon are working together. But Static is still an independent operator. Part of the reason Tech approaches him is hoping to call in the big guns; Static tells him what they did- that he’s a kid, and this is a war– they’re not going to encourage him to fight in it until he’s grown enough to make that call for himself. Tech’s disappointed, but still happy for the help, since Static can fly, and is quasi-friendly with the cops in a way that Tech and his syndicate aren’t. On that note… we probably shouldn’t call his gang “Blood Syndicate;” I think you could get away with tying a gang to a real-world one in a 90s comic, but in a 2020s movie, I don’t think that’ll fly. On the other hand, my subtitle for the movie is clearly a reference… so I’m conflicted, obviously.

But Static is clever, and asks if she’s got a phone. Tech says she never goes anywhere without it- it’s got this cat game she’s addicted to. He has Tech call it, and can feel the signal pinging off of cell towers. Problem is, he can also feel Francis and several of his other gang members closing in through their phones. Tech wants to fight; Static says there’s no time- which is likely also true, but he mostly didn’t want to get in the middle of yet another gang war. Static tells him to keep up, then flies off.

We cut back to Curtis’ lab. He and Tiff are working together. “I’m telling you, this is a bad idea,” Rocket says to Icon.

“Why’s that?” he asks.

“She’s still pissed. She’s not going to be able to just stow it.”

We cut to Tiff and Curtis, laboring over his redesign. “So what’s the plan?” she asks.

“I’m still not happy with the handling. Struts shimmy any time I pass the sound barrier, and it feels like I’m going to lose an arm.”

“I mean with us,” she touches his arm meaningfully, just long enough for us to start to wonder if we’ve missed something between them before she laughs. “And Alva.”

“Oh. I suppose you deserve the truth. He’s… involved in all kinds of shady things.”

“Really? The wealthy old white man’s up to no good?”

“More even than you’d guess. He supplied the mutagen the cops deployed last year. And he controls at least one of the gangs that started the brawl in the first place.”

“He turned a neighborhood into a petri dish. That’s dark, even for me.”

“So, mostly, we’re trying to counter his next moves. Trying to get ahead of him.”

“Since all of this has stayed out of the news, I assume he sues, threatens, or,” she drags her hand across her throat, “anyone who could point a finger.” They spend a moment silent. “That’s not going to work with the cops.”

“Oh?”

“My dad was a beat cop. Most days, they act like any other gang, scrap for turf, beat on anyone who doesn’t give them their proper respect. One way they’re different, is they won’t turn tail. I’m not talking about bravery; there are plenty of cowards in blue. But most gangs, you shine a light on them long enough, and they go to ground- they have to. But the cops… their pride won’t let them. Their whole mythology is about how much we need them. Mutated cops are going to be a problem- their pride won’t let them go quietly.”

“Then we need to fix this armor, so we can be part of the solution.”

Static runs into some trouble when he finds Brickhouse. Francis kind of freaks her out (he was one of her bullies growing up), so she’s kind of trying to hide from him in a warehouse when Static arrives. But she doesn’t know him, either- nor trust him. Tech realized that, and tries to call her. Now… I would pay Disney to use enough bars for an A Whole New World ringtone- though frankly I imagine they’d probably let you use it just for the cross-promotion if you said pretty please, but Tech’s ringtone is the song from Aladdin. She tries to answer, but she’s freaked out, and freaked out plus super strength and rock-hard fingers equals smashed phone. But again, Static is clever. He grabs an old throw rug and tosses it on his manhole cover so it looks like a flying carpet, and offers to help her get back to safety with Tech. Static is charming, but in a sweet, innocent sort of way, when he offers her his hand and quotes, “I can show you the world.”

“Shining?” she asks, taking his hand tentatively. “Shimmering?”

He helps her somewhat awkwardly onto the manhole cover, which was not designed for two people, as he says, “Splendid.” They fly off, over Francis and his goons. A few blocks away, they hear a car honking frantically below, and land. Tech and his crew, along with Rick, get out.

“He with you?” Fade asks of Rick. “He said he was, and tagged along.”

“Dude, you followed me. I’m the one with the find my friend app.”

But then Tech notices Brickhouse, wobbling on the manhole cover, not quite sure how to gracefully get off. He gives her a hand down. “Marta, I was so worried.” She wraps her arms around him, then recoils, feeling self-conscious that he doesn’t share her affection. “Hey,” he puts his arms around her, “I spent my whole life looking out for you. I don’t want to stop being here for you.” She latches back on again. “Why don’t you hop inside the car, huh? We’ll get you home. I’ll make you some cocoa.”

Tech helps her in, and the car sags noticeably, before he turns to the two of them. “I owe you, both of you. And I know this is a lousy way to start repaying you, but car’s full up.”

“We’ll manage,” Static says. Tech and crew ride off. Static walks with Rick.

“You sure you don’t want to take me on a magic carpet ride?” Rick teases.

“Figured we could use the walk. So what’d you want to tell me?”

“I didn’t know how to say it earlier, you know, in mixed company, but your fly has been down. All day. From the moment you left your house, to when you left me to stop a robbery. I’m pretty sure you exposed some pipe, while you were flying on your somewhat ironically named manhole cover.”

“I’d know. You get quite a breeze flying. So… what is it really?”

“Seeing the two of them… they’ve been friends as long as we have. I don’t know if that’s sweet or demented. It seems like there have been times in my life when your mom was more my mom than my mom was.”

“I didn’t hit my head, if that’s where you’re going with all of this…”

“I think I want you to remember the history, because… I’m worried it won’t be enough. That… what I’m going to say to you, you’re going to be different with me. And that is the last thing I want. You know?”

“I… don’t.”

“Of course not. That is practically the opposite of context. Okay. Um… I’m not looking for anything to change. Between us. About us. I just… there’s something I need you to know. About me. Because it hurts feeling like there are parts of me I don’t share with you.”

“I already know you watch My Little Pony. Like, way more than any human being should.”

“It’s a great show. And that is actually almost a mislead, because it is a super-straight fandom. Oh. Crap. That was… not how I meant to broach that.”

“That is legitimately hilarious.”

“Not the reaction I was hoping for…”

“No, I mean, I’ve heard you rehearsing pieces of your speech for weeks. You’ve obsessed over getting it across perfectly, and then… just blurt it out. It’s very you. That is hilarious. You coming out? Is cool. It’s brave. I’ve been rooting for you. Because I never want to be someone you have to hide from. Not even My Little Pony.”

“You need to watch it.”

“I need churros. I maybe should watch it. But I’m glad you told me.”

“Me, too. But it was hard. You’ve always been cool with every other gay person in school.” Static gives him a confused look. He becomes more confused with every new person mentioned. “Like Ms. Ellen, the Librarian. Pete on our soccer team. Pete’s boyfriend. Your gaydar may be completely broken.”

“Maybe I don’t see orientation.”

“At this point I’m not convinced you see, period. How many fingers am I holding up?” It’s three.

“Two more than I’m about to,” he says (this is all playful, if that didn’t read).

“Regardless, I knew you weren’t, yourself.” Again, Static is confused. “I have seen you literally fall over when a cute girl bares the tiniest amount of cleavage.”

“Bi is a thing.”

“Dude, the day you stare as hard at any guy as you did at Brickhouse, I will hand-sew you your own bi flag.”

“You sew?”

“Because sewing’s gay?”

“Is it?”

“I… don’t know. And of course I do. Who do you think fixed that awful sewing job on your costume?”

“My mom?”

“And you think she just fixed your costume and let you continue your life as a teenaged vigilante without a word?”

“Until this moment, I think I did.”

“Then thank God for both of us you reacted sweetly; I honestly don’t know how you’d survive without me.”

We cut to a news broadcast. “Violence erupted today at the downtown police precinct. An internal affairs investigation into the day shift found several officers had broke in, working in concert with one of the city’s main gangs. They have since seized control of the precinct, leading to a siege.” Footage of cops outside the building from different angles.

Rocket shows them a social media video on her phone. It’s Oro, a policewoman acting as a spokesperson for the cops holed up inside. “They’re trying to silence us. We were set up. The weapons Alva gave us changed us. They told us we could keep their secret, and work for him, or they’d get rid of us. But some of us can’t just keep going. A third of our guys can’t work, period. They took Gina off a respirator this morning. Alan will never walk again. This is about more than those of us still fit to serve, it’s-” the feed disconnects abruptly.

“We’re out of time,” Icon says.

Curtis kicks up his welding mask. “I need two minutes. I’m no good to you if the armor won’t stop a spitball.”

“Fine. We need to talk strategy, anyway.”

“I’ve been thinking about that. I think you need to stay out of sight.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because the cops can get their head around a man in a metal suit. It’s maybe stolen military tech. Maybe just a clever entrepreneur. But you? A bulletproof Black man who can fly, throw a building? Racist cops won’t sleep again.”

“Sounds all right to me…”

“That’s because your bulletproof.” Curtis finishes, and steps into the armor, which closes around him. “Cops are so much worse when they’re scared; we don’t want to make them feel cornered- at least not until we’re ready to move on the ones who are dirty. But I can draw fire without freaking them out too much.”

“While I get the mutated ones out. Any ideas?” He lifts his arm, and a projection from his gauntlet shows the sewers flow right next to the building’s basement. “Clever.”

We cut to the cop shop. Hardware lands in front of the line of cops hiding behind cars. He broadcasts through external speakers, “I’m going to handle this situation. Disperse, so we can avoid violence.”

The cops, predictably, overreact, and open fire. Hardware is careful not to cause more damage than necessary, mostly taking and breaking police firearms. To that end I’d put a powerful electromagnet on his back, one that rips the guns out of the hands of the cops nearest him.

Icon flies through the sewers, going on foot when his GPS says he’s close. He finds a S.W.A.T. team manned by mutated cops who played ball, setting breaching charges. “I’d ask you to desist and let me peaceably through… but I’d rather put you in the sewage where you belong.” Icon tears through them in the confined space. It should be a pretty wild action scene. We can intercut between Hardware on the street and Icon beneath it. After Icon finishes dealing with the S.W.A.T. team, he walks through the wall. Cops open fire on him.

We cut to the police line outside. “That came from inside. Did our team breach?” They try to reach S.W.A.T. on the radio, but can’t reach them, so decide to breach. They ignore Hardware (though one does try to pry his shotgun off Hardware’s magnet, Sword in the Stone style, before giving up), and instead break down the door, only to find the precinct empty. Stacked in front of the hole in the wall is the unconscious S.W.A.T. team, preventing a timely pursuit.

Icon leads the mutated cops, including Oro, away. “I appreciate the assist, and everything,” she says, “but where does this leave us? They weren’t negotiating; they didn’t even try. They were going to execute us.” They exit the sewers, to find Hardware.

“I had a thought about that on the flight over, and called some friends.” Static lands beside him, and a moment later, Tech arrives in his car, and the rest of his crew arrive in other cars.

We’re now at a warehouse where Tech and his gang hang out. Tech agrees to help smuggle most of the cops away, that the other cops will keep trying to kill them if they stay. He offers to protect anyone who does stay, that they could use strength, since Francis has been jostling for control.

Fade arrives, tells them that Francis is doing a charm offensive. Only it’s more offensive than it sounds- he’s been straight-up threatening people who don’t join, but the get-together in the park is the carrot. Oro recognizes him- he threatened her, too- and realizes that Francis is working with Alva and the cops. They realize they have to show up in force, fight if necessary, but show them that it’s safe to say no to Francis, or he’ll gather enough metahumans to be unstoppable.

At first blush, it looks like public outreach, snacks, games. But there’s an undercurrent of fear and intimidation; the stick is the threat of Francis turning his wrath on those who don’t sign on. Tech and his crew arrive, and tell Francis it’s not okay to threaten people. Francis claims that Tech’s the real aggressor, and attacks.

Initially Hardware, Icon and the mutated cops (I’d throw in both Donner and Blitzen, too, since they’re locals, even if we may not be able to give them better screen time until 3) are able to stem the loss of life/bloodletting, but it’s also clear they can’t hold Francis back forever. Tech is preparing to fight- to make it bloody. That’s when Masquerade intervenes. She tells him that he’s more than he thinks he is- that he knows what they need, even if he hasn’t let himself see it. They don’t need guns- there are more than enough of those on the street. But he can do so much more than he realizes- he can make so much more than guns. He teams with Static to instead create a microphone, and gives a rousing speech into the park’s speakers. Some stay with Francis, but most walk away; a few stay and fight. Eventually, the good guys win.

Epilogues: Masquerade spells out for Tech her feelings- shifting to who the boy he used to know, then back into herself, sad that he can’t love her for who she is, because he’s hung up on who she was. He tells her it’s not that. She’s beautiful, and she’s always been one of his best friends- so much so he wondered growing up if he liked men. But when she came out, he realized he always knew, and loved her for who she’d been even before then- and if that makes him bi? So what. But… he’s been trying to wave her off because of Brickhouse. She loves him, and she’s fragile. And he loves her like a sister, and always will, but can’t hurt her… only Brickhouse overhears this, and confronts them. “Don’t.” She takes his hand. “I love you. Enough to want you happy. Even if it can’t be with me.” She gives Tech’s hand to Masquerade.

I’m not deep into Milestone lore, to know if Static has a better love interest, but personally, I’d likely set up Brickhouse with Static in the sequel. To start in that direction, after Tech and Masquerade walk off to talk, she sees Static being sweet and heroic and community-spirited (so many of the things that attracted her to Tech to begin with), helping to make a young girl frightened by all the violence smile and feel safe again. He notices her looking at him, and smiles, giving a dorky little wave. She waves back.

Rocket talks to Icon, milling about the edge of the park. She chides him, because this is exactly the kind of thing she wanted, and exactly the kind of thing he’d removed himself from by being above it. “You’ve missed out on a lot of this. But what matters is you’re here, now. You helped create this. You helped people who couldn’t help themselves- couldn’t protect themselves from Francis. You made an impact.”

Credits. Mid-credits scene: Hardware and Tiff are working on a new piece of tech. “I want to do more- I can do so much more.” It sounds like they’re having a fight. “I’m wasted as a glorified lab assistant.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” he says, and hands her a breastplate for a new suit of armor, one fit to her dimensions. She holds it up, and we zoom in on it to go to more credits.

End credits scene: We follow Alva into a secretive base, some kind of high tech/elevator Hallway. I’m assuming we won’t have the entire Shadow Cabinet cast- though we can have Donner and Blitzen here, if we’ve had them kicking around for 2 movies. I would like to cast Dharma for this scene, as he’s the one Alva’s meeting. Dharma greets him as an old friend, before asking what brings him to the Shadowspire.

Alva smiles. We know it’s a wicked sort of smile, but others, Dharma included, need to be able to see him as friendly. “Same reason I always visit. I want to help you save the world.”

We pull back, and can see Alva’s wearing some kind of high-tech equipment under his clothes; it can be a bracelet or something subtle, but the idea, I think, is that Alva’s found a way to disrupt Dharma’s ability to see the future and past of any object he touches. He’s going to use this to turn the Shadow Cabinet against the other heroes. Next Juneteenth is going to be fun.

Pitchgiving 2021, part 1: Milestone Comics

Okay, I didn’t expect Juneteenth to become a holiday virtually overnight, so this wasn’t planned in advance. But I just happened to be working on Pitchgiving (rather than the novel I’m currently posting because I have a complicated relationship with what most people classicaly term productivity), and the one that I got caught in and poured a lot more time, love and effort into feels appropriate. I’m moving it to number 1, and posting it now. Just know, that when September 17th rolls around, you already got your first present under the Thanksgiving tree, because this is it (so expect the second on the 24th):

Intro:

I think Pitchmas 2020 only went okay. There are really 2 reasons, the first being that pitching 10 episodes of a show is a lot more work, which either led to extra-long pitches (lead-time permitting) or corner-cutting, with what feel to me like somewhat mixed results. The second is I started before the debut of WandaVision or WinterFalcon or LokiLoki, so I made the assumption that the shows would be, er, shows, in the more traditional sense, and not miniseries, or perhaps better understood as slightly extended movies- always designed to feed directly back into the movies themselves, which means some of my concepts don’t fit as well as I’d have liked them to (Sentry, though, still feels like a high point, to me- since it was written later and got to adjust accordingly- and was always a more tightly plotted/planned story, thanks largely to Paul Jenkins’ original). 

But for those reasons I’ll probably stick to movies this year. And yes, the plan is to start with Pitchgiving, and roll right into Pitchmas. For both, I think we’ll keep around the same basic ruleset of no sequels to existing properties, though I can pitch a story for something that’s been announced but for which I know no story details. The exception I’m rolling with is I can pitch sequels to my own pitches half the time, and that’s the plan: a 50/50 split of sequel pitches and new property pitches. This could be interesting, since between what Marvel and DC have already tapped and what I’ve previously pitched, we’re going to start scraping the bottom of the barrel at some point. But if need be, I can always change the rules.

Milestones

Okay, so some of you may not know this, because it’s relatively obscure comics ephemera. But there is a Black Superman, and a Black Iron Man, both running around the DC Universe (along with a kinda-sorta Black Spider-Man). And I’m not talking about Steel or the Superman from Multiversity (or Spider-Boy in blackface, either- I don’t think that’s a thing that happened, but even if it had, not what I’m talking about). I’m talking about Milestone Comics. It was created in the 90s as an Own Voices type of deal for comics. In the early stages It involved Christopher Priest, but it was Dwayne McDuffie who got it past the finish line. Those of us who were kids (or kids at heart) in the early 2000s will know its biggest cultural contribution to date: the Static Shock cartoon. DC has already green lit a Static movie; I hope they make it, because even in the wake of Black Panther, I think Black audiences deserve still more representation, and I think the Milestone brand in particular is still relatively unknown enough that there’s more room at the margins to make harder points; it’s possible Disney would balk at BP marching with Black Lives Matter, but it’s honestly expected that the Milestone heroes would be there. Milestone was also ahead of its time (in some ways ahead of our current time, too) in other ways, with better LGBT representation than most franchises today. Some may, likewise, view this as a cheat; Milestone isn’t owned by DC (at least as far as I know), but licensed to them, and at a minimum doesn’t fit people’s conception of what the DC Universe proper is. But that’s kind of the point, and they were recently reintroduced back into the comics universe, so I’m counting it.

The first hurdle we hit, though, is the name, maybe names, plural. The universe was called the Dakotaverse, for the fictional city of Dakota that functioned as their home turf. In general I’m against fake cities, especially when an existing city will do nicely, and this one seems easy. We make it Detroit, set the dial somewhere between modern, post-white-flight Detroit and RoboCop Detroit, and it’s basically if Wakanda had been in charge of rebuilding New York after the Chitauri attack in the first Avengers movie- making it a big black-majority city with some renown, wealth and reach.

The next stumbling block isn’t so simple. The big team in Milestone was known only as Heroes. Not only has NBC subsequently snapped up that name, but it was generic and bland to begin with- not a name you can market a $200 million hero flick on the back of. At present, I think the strongest idea I have is just calling the team Milestone- because it is one, an all-Black superhero team, especially one built by Black creators- it makes sense both within their world and within ours. We could even go a step further, have it not just be a Milestone, but because the fictional universe contains a pastiche of all kinds of Black characters from Marvel and DC, you could even have Milestone refer to the fact that it was the first hero team, period, back in the 70s, when a teenaged Black Lightning (no need to use Buck Lightning, since this is set in the DCU proper and he’s, you know, around), a Luke Cage homage (Buck Wild, Mercenary Man), Buck Goliath (I’m… not sure why so many of these just replace Black with Buck… ), a Captain America pastiche we probably can’t call Patriot anymore (I imagine Marvel have been keeping up on their trademark for the Young Avenger- especially with him recently having debuted in the Captain Samerica show)… and I’m not sure whether or not calling his Falcon-alike “Jim Crow” is going to fly today, no pun intended. But that, fighting alongside our Black Superman (who was thankfully not named Buck Superman) ,could cement them as the Pre-Justice League premier superheroes of the DCU (once the Justice Society disbanded after half of its members disappeared, for those who think I have no sense of my own continuity)… they were just more localized and less well known.

And then there’s Icon. Look, it’s probably the strongest of the names I’ve complained about, and I even get why having a Black Superman in ’93 was legitimately iconic… but it’s still a little on the nose, and not my favorite name. Hardware fairs better, for me, and Static as a name actually does feel pretty iconic to me (even if, next to Black Lightning, I’d expect Static’s powerset to be more limited, possibly just to cling, and maybe the occasional annoying zap- which is not really the case). I’m also uncertain about the name “Bang Babies” for their metahumans… I feel like back in ’93 it wouldn’t have read as oddly dated or a slogan you’d see on a NAMBLA shirt, but we can replace with a more generic term like metahuman, transhuman, superhuman, mutant, or whatever if need be; but your mileage may vary on all of these names, and I hope this all reads as one creative gently but lovingly ribbing others, cause the folks behind these properties have a lot more cred than I do, and deservedly so.

And the usual caveat, as I start, here, is that I’m white, and am just doing the synopsis for funsies; any Milestone movie should absolutely be written, directed and to the greatest extent possible shot and performed by Black creators, who have an intuitive experience of the Black experience that no amount of research or empathy could give me (though I’d be happy to consult or help in some degree, if anyone were interested); the one exception to that might be Tarantino being a possibility to direct; I think even in that scenario, the optimal outcome would be he and Spike Lee co-directing. They might kill each other, but they’d turn in a hell of a movie (and thirty years from now the making of doc would be better than that).

And before I go further, a caveat: DC are supposedly making a Static Shock movie. But… they were supposedly making a Cyborg movie. And while I buy that someday that Flash movie will get made, I’d put about even money right now on it taking so long Grant Gustin will be age appropriate to play their version of Jay Garrick. Both for the uninitiated and because it’s a slightly more interesting story, I’m assuming it gets folded into our movie, here- not because I wish the Static movie ill, but because I wanted to play with all the toys, damnit, and folding Static’s origin in made sense to me.  

We’d start with Icon, named Arnus, in the 1800s. He’s an alien, traveling in a starliner that malfunctions, and he crashes into a cotton field in the American South. His lifepod scans an enslaved woman named Miriam, and alters his physiology to look like her. She raises him as her own son, and he grows up as a slave; he was quickly discovered to be personally unpunishable- not a one of the hands could manage to break the boy’s skin no matter how long they flailed him- and his spirit was even more unbreakable. They threatened Miriam, and the other slaves, which served to keep him malleable for a time. Early in his teenage years, however, he realized how great their fear of him was- and engineered a revolt, and saw his adoptive mother and the other slaves safely along the Underground Railroad.

He spent the years of the Civil War and after continuing his work aiding freed and escaped slaves, after which he retired to a relatively reclusive manor in Michigan. He played the stocks, and when necessary did labor, reasoning he would some day use human technology to fix his craft and return home- but even by the 2010s we were still far behind the tech he needed. But that’s why he takes an interest in young Curtis Metcalf, perhaps the brightest young man of his age. He seeks to mentor Metcalf, and provide for his education.

Here we shift perspectives, to follow Curtis as a boy, scraping gum off of desks and tables; we assuming he’s an overly polite young man, until he catches sight of a big for his age kid chase a frailer student into the boy’s bathroom. He crams the remaining already-been-chewed gum into an invention that envelopes the bully in a thick, pinkish sludge that prevents him from moving. The bullied kid and Curtis run in opposite directions, Curtis running home. We lace in his mother speaking about the opportunity this represents for her son, how thankful she is that his gifts can be nurtured, maybe a little guilt about how she couldn’t afford the tutors or fancy school she knew would help him, not on a lowly teacher’s salary (she doesn’t mention it, but her husband is a doctor, but at a poor community clinic, barely making enough to pay off his med school debt), and is in the process of profusely thanking the man sitting on her couch when Curt arrives, surprised. We are, too, because it isn’t Arnus, it’s Edwin Alva, a white man who looks enough like Edison (genial, but definitely evil) for people to get the message (though some white people will get to it later). He smiles, and explains that he’s going to see to it Curt gets the leg up he didn’t- that he’s going to remove ten years of hard labor to get him where he was always going to end up, inventing better ways for man to thrive.

We follow Edwin outside of the Metcalf home, where he meets Arnus who was clearly about to make his approach, living under the name Augustus Freeman IV (he was also I-III, over the years). Edwin tells him that the boy is his- his genius, his inventions- all of it, and not-too-subtly threatens to out Arnus as something other than human. He also leans, hard, into calling him “Free Man.”

We follow a deflated Arnus home, where he continues to monitor Curt growing up. He doesn’t feel he has a free hand, though at one point he does try to intervene, managing a few minutes with the 15 year old college graduate at his graduation to tell him he should understand Alva has his own machinations. Curt isn’t surprised, but trusts some old dude who jumps out at him in a green trenchcoat even less.

More years pass, and we see Arnus in his study, becoming more and more disillusioned. As dust gathers in his home, webs in the windows, it’s clear he’s interacting with humanity less and less in his depression. Suddenly, the webbed-over window is lit by a flashlight, that smashes its way inside. A hand juts through the pane, and unlocks the window. It belongs to one of a handful of youths, but the only one we really focus on is the one called Rocket. She’s pretty, and sounds more worldly than the others. She’s also the one that Arnus catches, inadvertently demonstrating his superpowers. Her friends run, but she’s intrigued by this powered recluse. She asks why he doesn’t use his power to help people- their people, to set an example. Now… Icon was originally very much in the Bill Cosby, respectability politics mold; I’m probably not the right person to make the call, but personally, I’d update him, as someone who tried, but failed, that not only did he hero in the 70s with the other previous generation of Milestones, but he’s been trying for nearly 200 years. Past a point, he couldn’t handle pulling cats out of trees but not being able to stop police from beating Black people to death on the street. I think we could split the difference by having him state that their people don’t need an example, they need a lighter load. She could still respond to that with something like, “It’s easy to pull yourself up by your bootstraps when you can fly.”

We return to Curt, who is now an adult, and is working on a new kind of tear gas. His lab partner protests, that the specs the police have asked for require a dose of their proprietary irritant ten times that level- which Curt protests, because even double the current dose has been shown to have mutagenic and carcinogenic properties in testing- that as it stands it can only be used by domestic police because its use in war would be against international law. Alva bursts in, and fires Curt’s partner, saying they were hired to get Curt on the same page, and clearly can’t do that, so security escort him out. Alva then asks how the exoskeleton is coming along.

Curt says they’ve made some progress, but expresses reservations; the police are already heavily militarized, and its had devastating effects, especially in Black communities. Alva doesn’t seem moved, and turns to leave, at which point Curt asks about his proposal- that he helped Alva build this company, that a full 25% of profits are directly attributable to his patents and discoveries, and he would like to benefit accordingly. Alva is savage, explaining that he isn’t a partner or a protégé, but an employee, one who signed a contract, one that Alva is willing to enforce in court, if need be, that deals with patents, royalties and all other compensatory forms, and prohibits any productive work for any company in any capacity related to his work at Alva industries, or the education it provided for him.” Curt protests, that between the breadth of his education and his multi-disciplinary work for Alva, there’s nothing he could do elsewhere (someone else would have to weigh in whether or not he should go the extra step and say, he’s “practically a slave”); Alva makes a joke about never using him to work on food extracts, and that being an exciting field- that he’d even put in a good word with Wilcox for him, laughing as he leaves.

And here’s where we meet Virgil. He’s a geeky 15-year old more into comics and nerd-stuff than anything else. He wakes up early, with his friend still asleep in his room as he plays with his Legos. His mom ducks her head in, and says they need to be getting dressed, that breakfast is ready and the bus will be here in a few minutes. Virgil and Rick discuss going back to school after a fun weekend hanging out; Virgil’s not terribly keen, because he’s being bullied. We watch as the two boys chase after the bus with juice-boxes and toast in hand as they run.

After school, we witness Virgil get bullied. Rick stands by, unable to help, because his bully, Francis, is flanked by two other gang members, wearing similar colors to help hammer home the point. Francis wants to stay and continue to beat on Virgil, but the others convince him they have to go, that they’re making plans for the Big Bang tonight.

Later on, Virgil, with Rick talking through how he wished they could get the bully alone, is tapping away at the internet trying to find out information on dark portions of the web to find out about the Big Bang. He clicks one link and up pops an adult site, which is immediately blocked by their internet settings. His mom yells in from the other room, wanting to know if he’s looking at something he shouldn’t. He hollers back that he was just trying to research on the Big Bang. After a pause, she tells him to be careful which links he clicks on for that.

We cut to another screen, but this one’s different, littered in icons, dissertations, spreadsheets, science. We see Curt’s reflection in the monitor. He’s opening and closing documents and spreadsheets at a fast clip, but from it we can gather that he’s doing research on his boss, Edwin Alva, and finding out he’s both incredibly dirty and untouchable. I’d say this might be a good moment to inject Arnus back into the story. Curt is surprised he’s there, that he got past Alva’s security. It takes him a moment to place Arnus, before he calls him the flasher from his graduation. Arnus stuffily protests that it was just a trenchcoat, that he had on a full three piece underneath, just like he’s wearing now (I think, in his civilian guise, he wears a green trenchcoat over a red three-piece suit, similarly if more mutedly colored to his costume).

Arnus relates all he knows about Alva- that he’s dirty, that he’s even tried, at various times, to leak information to the press, to prosecutors. But Alva’s too well-connected. He’s bribed everyone in the state, and his defense contracts are so central to the Defense Department that there’s no way they’d let anyone jail their golden goose. Curt mutters that he’s the goose bitterly. Arnus tells him he didn’t come to tell Curt to give up hope- he came to provide it. He has a plan, to hurt Alva’s legitimate and shadow organizations strategically; he just knows that he needs an inside man, someone with access who can help him navigate the portions he can’t see from outside. Curt smiles, saying he wants a “man inside the machine,” and says he came to the right guy, hitting a button that pops out the exoskeleton he’s been working on. Curt falls back into it, and it seals around him. Arnus may not be impressed, but it’s still the closest anyone’s come to the kind of tech his people had in a couple hundred years, so he’s intrigued.  

Rocket walks into the room. She’s got her own costume, now, as well as some flying tech she rigged from Arnus’ craft. Icon confirms she’s with him, and Rocket confirms she adapted his tech to her needs on her own, but his suit “Looks neat, too.”

We cut to the underground meeting of one of the gangs. I’m picturing the Foot Clan from the first Ninja Turtles movie, because that’s the era this stuff took place in, but if we could shift the relatively realistic feel of that to a modern context we’re probably set. Francis, essentially a peon, listens intently to their leader talk about what’s really just a street brawl amongst a couple gangs; big, in terms of numbers, but he’s discouraging most of them from bringing guns or anything that might impact people’s parole, that this is about a public display of power- sticking a knife in someone’s ribs is a private display- you don’t do that in front of witnesses. Someone cast in shadow arrives, and the leader tells his boys to all scram.

And here’s where we thicken up the plot a bit. Alva meets with the head of one of the gangs. He uses the youth gangs basically as a minor league- he’s always looking for talent, and implies that he’s had his eye on the gang leader for some time, that he views this Big (gang) Bang [yeah, this might be another name from the 90s we have to change] as their All Star Game, that he’ll be watching for his own draft. After the gang leader leaves, he asks his assistant if the new irritant will be ready for tomorrow. The assistant says that Metcalf fixed all the technical issues, the only remaining issue was the irritant cocktail, and that they’ve already increased it to the requested levels. Alva asks what the LD-50 is on the compound, and is told it’s five times greater than current levels. Alva tells him to ‘only’ triple it, then; that there’s bound to be more Black Lives Matter protests, and other police departments will be watching to see how effective their new irritant is- and he wants to give them a fireworks show.

The next day at school, Virgil stops Francis from bullying a different kid, inadvertently getting his attention. Virgil’s saved from a particularly bad beating by a rival gang member. Virgil asks him about the Big Bang, and he tells Virgil if he’s thinking about hopping off the sidelines, he’ll have a shot at Francis- and that his two cronies will have their hands full- that he can guarantee. Rick pantomimes for him not to, but Virgil says he’ll think about it.

After school, Rick tries to convince Virgil not to go, playing the pity card, that Virgil only just started warming up to him, and it took years– he doesn’t have that kind of time to break in another new best friend before high school ends. “Your confidence in me it’s, frankly it’s just embarrassing,” Virgil deadpans. Virgil tells Rick, when he threatens to stay with him the rest of the day, that he won’t go. Rick cops to the fact that he’s got a dentist appointment, so it was a bad bluff, but he appreciates it, really. He’ll sleep better- and that if Virgil wants to come over after his appointment, they can game or something. Virgil tells him he’s got a lot of homework, a big paper due. Rick eyes him, but decides to trust him.

We cut to later, as lines are being drawn. One of the gang leaders chugs a beer, crumples it and throws the empty into the street between them, says something to the effect of they might as well get things started. The Big Bang lights off. During the fighting, Virgil is able to isolate Francis and get in a few good licks, before the cops arrive. They barely hesitate before showering the place in tear gas. I imagine we pop into a police helicopter for a moment, where the officer weighs whether or not it violates the safety instructions to fire a second cannister into the smoke, and decides to, anyway.

We cut away as Icon tells them the plan, that he, Rocket and Hardware will start out the evening at three different locations, starting havoc, setting charges, destroying caches; while coordinated, they’re also coordinating to leave open the possibility of accidents or industrial sabotage- at least as long as possible.  

We cut back to the Big Bang as the sun starts to set. The cops go into the smoke with riot gear and gas masks, thinking that’ll protect them. They walk into a Cronenbergian body horror exhibition, with several of the gang members mutating in real time before their eyes. We spend a few minutes with the cops, who freak out and just start shooting everyone they see, until the first of them says he thinks there’s something wrong with his mask, reaches up and realizes the gas has eaten through the plastic shield of his mask. He collapses to the ground and starts convulsing, and one of the cops shoots him. I think from here the exposed cops retreat out of the gas; the other cops refuse to let them rejoin their line, so they form a second ring within it, to keep the gang members in the smoke.

Icon finishes destroying the conveyance of both legs of a smuggling handoff, and cocks his head, smiling as he hears an approaching siren. He turns, as Hardware lands relatively quietly behind him. Hardware informs him of the news- a riot breaking out amongst two rival gangs, with the cops on the scene shooting. Icon calls Rocket over the radio, and she says she heard, “And he was so worried your old ass wouldn’t know how to work a radio, he schlepped over to you.” 

The three heroes fly to the scene of the riot. At first they’re horrified, as the cops just outright murder injured gang members- most of them underaged kids. Then they see one of the shot gang members get back up and tear the cop who shot him in half. They spring into action, Icon telling them to stem the loss of life- all life. He tells them to handle the gangs- that he’ll move the cops back- the last thing a situation this complex needs is cowboys shooting blindly into the smoke.

It’s Rocket that finds Virgil and shakes him awake. He was passed out beside Francis. He says he doesn’t feel good, but says he should be able to walk. “I was less worried about you walking than who was going to carry your unconscious cuddle buddy,” she says, nudging Francis with her foot. A cop pops out of the smoke, too close for Rocket to respond. Virgil, instinctively, puts up his hands, tearing a manhole cover out of the street and shunting it between Rocket and the policeman’s shotgun as he fires. The cop cocks his head, before Rocket punches him. Rocket and Virgil exchange names, and as their guards are down, Francis, now the powered F-Stop, jumps up. Virgil again puts out his hand, and the manhole cover smacks Francis, putting him back on the ground. Rocket asks Virgil if he’s good, but doesn’t wait for confirmation as she disappears through the smoke. Virgil continues to play with the manhole cover, sending it flying left, then sending it flying right, but too far, where he looses control of it and we hear it clang into someone, who groans. Virgil glances around, before saying, “He did it,” and pointing at the unconscious Francis.

We cut to a couple of bangers who came armed. “Pigs are armored,” one of them says. The other says that means it’s open season on bacon. They start shooting into the smoke in the direction of the police line. Hardware walks into their hail of gunfire, bullets pinging off his armor. He reaches forward and grabs their guns, crushing them, then grabs them, and pulls them into the smoke.

Icon floats in the air above the gas. A policeman in the helicopter he’s been trying to shoo away fires off a burst of bullets that bounce off of him. Icon glares. “You okay?” Virgil, who’s awkwardly floating on his manhole cover, asks.  He’s about 80% of the way there to being Static at this point (design-wise; he tore the bottom half of Francis’ t-shirt to make himself a mask, even). Icon says it kind of tickles… but he’s not sure how to get them to shove off without knocking their helicopter out of the sky- which could be dangerous. Static says he’ll give it a try. He magnetically bends the barrel of the gun that moments before was used on Icon, then gestures for them to shove off. The pilot doesn’t hesitate.

Icon smiles at him, then wonders if he has any thoughts about breaking the police line. He asks Icon if he really just asked him to “Fuck the police?” Icon says he’s certain he didn’t use those words, but he would appreciate the help- nonlethal, of course. Static looks up the block, and notices their cars are all in pretty close proximity to some street lights. He relates that his physics teacher told him that electricity and magnetism are just different names for the same phenomenon, so he might have an idea. He claws his hands across the air, and the metal lightposts warp enough to shatter their bulbs, ever so slightly angling their exposed wiring towards the cops. Then electricity leaps from the lights, burning the paint off the cars. The cops who had been holding the line behind the cars run; without them keeping the exposed cops in a smaller circle, they too, flee.

I think at some point in the fighting I would cameo a lesbian couple, who eventually hero under the names Donner and Blitzen but for now run a coffee shop on the nearby corner, and were caught in the gas as it wafted through. Donner is a big blonde German powerhouse, and Blitzen is a Japanese speedster. It’s more a cameo, though it probably wouldn’t hurt to cast them now and just assume they’ll get more play in the sequel, but they help keep the bangers contained and pedestrians/passersby safe. Probably they stop and pose at the end of the fight, with the other heroes. 

Between Static and Icon, the cops get the message, and leave. Hardware says the equipment in his suit has analyzed the gas, and confirms it was the compound he was working with, but at a much greater concentration; he confirms that it’s relatively harmless in lower doses. Icon does a couple of quick fly-bys to suck the gas away with him, cutting its concentration to safe levels. Static helps by plonking the blades off the helicopter he grounded and using them as a big fan.

Most of the remaining gang members, no longer feeling hidden by the gas, and even with powers don’t want to fight heroes. Maybe the gang leaders and their respective entourages do, with Virgil having to help take down the one who he was quasi-friendly with. The cops try to come back, looking for payback, after getting chased off. The heroes stand between them and the captured gang members to prevent a bloodbath, until live TV crews are on the scene (or maybe enough of a crowd gathered filming with camera phones is a better modernization).

Alva blames the issue with the gas on the police adding a radioactive isotope to help them track people from the ‘riot.’ Because of his wealth and reach, the media largely go along with it, and the stink stays off him. But privately, he’s pissed. He lost millions, and his contacts in organized crime all saw how much egg he took in the face. But that’s fine… he’s pretty sure he knows at least one person he can make pay.

He stampedes into Curt’s lab the next day, flanked by security personal in a flying V. He accuses Curt of misusing company property, and says he’s already been in contact with his lawyers about suing him for any damage done to the exoskeleton prototype. Curt acts surprised, and says he has no idea what he’s talking about- he’s been working in the lab all night. He pulls up the security feed, which does, indeed, show him hard at work. Alva demands to have the footage authenticated, and storms out.

Curt talks to Arnus and Rocket over lunch in the park, all of them in their civilian clothes. Curt explains that he’s never really trusted Alva, always figured there would come a day when he was going to have to go against him, and need some cover. First project he undertook working for him was worming inside his security system, and capturing enough archival footage he’d have just about any kind of loop he’d need. Didn’t hurt that he had been working a lot of late nights, after his proposal for a royalty sharing agreement- he figured he was demonstrating value, that he had a dozen ten-million-dollar ideas he’d planned to give up to show his own good will. Rocket asks if they’re better ways to kill people, or things that might do somebody some real good? Curt tells her that most any idea can be used to hurt people, or help them, if you’re clever enough, but that these ideas are some of his most clever- he thinks he could change the world, so long as Alva doesn’t stop him from putting these patents out into the world. Arnus tells him he’s got the resources to make sure they go public and stay public… that maybe he’s been thinking too small, about only helping himself, when the best way to help everyone up is to lift everyone up. He and Rocket exchange a knowing glance.

I think we shoot to credits, just the cast, real quick, then do an early credits scene, Rick confronting Virgil. Virgil thinks he’s in for it. He’s already had an ass-chewing from his mom, because he’s bruised up and obviously been fighting. And he just doesn’t have it in him- he could have died and he knows he was an idiot and- Rick latches onto him like a scared baby koala, and tells him how scared he was. He saw the fighting and that the cops were there on the news and Rick just knew that Virgil was there, and he wouldn’t pick up his phone and- we pull back, and Rick realizes they’re floating a few inches off the ground. He lets go of Virgil, and drops. Virgil tells him that the gas the cops used changed him. He can manipulate metal and electricity. He wants to use what he’s got to do good, and he’s been thinking names. We’ll throw out some others, either jokes or references.

“Lightning Lad?”

“What is it the 50s? Black Lightning?”

“What is it, the 70s? Also, I think there’s a guy.”

“Magnet-o. Mag-neat-o?”

“What is it, the 80s? Plus Disney has very scary lawyers.”

“Maybe we ditch the call and response. What is it, the 90s?” They both turn to camera and stare for a fraction of a second too long. We’ll do some fast-cuts now to burn through a few more.  

“E-Diddy?”

“Electric Boogaloo?”

“Racists ruined that one,” Virgil says.

“Man, racists ruin everything,” Rick says, and Virgil shakes his head in agreement. “Electro?”

“Marvel did it.”

“Electra.”

“Feminine. Also, Marvel did it.”

“Man, what didn’t Marvel do.”

“A Black superteam,” Virgil says.

Virgil pauses. “How about Static?”

“Like cling? Like if this is about the hug… I don’t like the term needy, but I was scared for you. I thought maybe I’d never even see you again.”

“No,” Virgil insists. “Static.”

“Like what you give your mom?”

“Like what I’ll give to cops, and bangers, and whoever else needs it.”

Editorial note: You may have noticed I’m capitalizing Black when it refers to the cultural identity, but not white. On grammar grounds I couldn’t make the switch; I agree that white shouldn’t be capitalized because it’s not a monolithic cultural identity, and I think Black is the same (I just don’t think my high school gym teacher from Compton’s experience was anything like Barack Obama’s, just as as an example). However, after the 2020 election, when Black voters pulled our collective asses out of the fire, again, I decided that grammar wasn’t the only metric to judge this by. I’m capitalizing Black as a sign of respect for people our country has repeatedly harmed, but who have repeatedly fought to save us from our worst selves. Mistakes may happen along the way, of course- grammar me and socially-conscious me aren’t always working in tandem. I’m uncertain about my back catalog… it’s a pain largely inflicted on my editors and formatters if I try to change that, too, but I am considering it, as well.