Some comic books come along and change the course of an entire universe. In this case, we have New History of the DC Universe: The Dakota Incident. A story that, as the DC Comics descriptions say, uncovers an “untold moment in DC history, where a murder leads to an all-out war between the heroes of Dakota City and the U.S. government.” As accurate as that is, it’s not close to what makes this a crucial moment in DC Comics.
This story begins in the future with Beacon (Amistad Augustus Ervin) fighting one of Static’s villains, Shiv. After Shiv is defeated, a temporal anomaly occurs, destroying the future. Luckily, Beacon has safeguards against this and sends himself into the past to prevent what happened from causing this disruption. What he witnesses is one of the most heartbreaking moments this writer has ever read. Considering all of the things that happen in comics, that should tell you something.
Originally, in Milestone Comics, an evil inventor named Edwin Alva, masking himself as a humanitarian, created something called Operation: Big Bang. It was a radioactive gas that was supposed to tag miscreants. This way, they could be captured and taken off the streets. Sadly, some of the “miscreants” in question were peaceful protesters. And even for the ones committing crimes, it's doubtful that they would have been given due process. Alva wasn’t a humanitarian. He was an evil capitalist.
Not only was this an evil move, but the gas killed some people and gave others superpowers. Among the people who were given abilities was the one and only Virgil Hawkins, aka Static. Unfortunately, instead of Beacon’s future of, as he put it, unlimited possibilities, Alva’s murder leads to tragedy. President Luthor worked with Amanda Waller and a plethora of her cretins (including the murderous Suicide Squad) to go to the City of Dakota to maintain order. And by that, I mean kill anyone who resisted.
In the end, Black Superheroes and role models, Icon and Hardware, make a deal with President Luthor to “keep” Dakota safe. Sadly, it came with a deal that superpowers were illegal to use in Dakota. Hardware suggests a fight, but Icon knows that it would just lead to civilians being hurt. So, in a moment that hurt this writer’s heart, Icon, Rocket, and Static reluctantly sign the agreement and shake Luthor’s hand, thus ending the age of heroes in Dakota…at least for now.
Beacon has one more Hail Mary. He finds his Uncle Virgil and tells him the truth. When Virgil says to go to the Justice League (who've done nothing to help since the Dakota incident), Amistad is furious. This isn’t the Static he grew up seeing and hearing stories about. This forces Amistad to deliver some harsh truths and chastise his uncle for giving up.
Before Beacon is lost to the timestream, he calls Static “Uncle Virgil.” That was the moment Static realized who the mysterious person was talking to him. He now understands that it’s up to him to save the future. With that, allow this writer to formally say, welcome back, Static.
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