The shift in power and authority at DC Studios – which is now invested in James Gunn and Peter Safran – came with the risk of projects based on the Milestone line going the way of Batgirl, and although there hasn’t been a great deal of news about those endeavors lately, they seem to be safe for now.
More than that, they are either still in development or will figure into Gunn’s plans, whatever form the imprint’s characters will take in the DCU. The filmmaker-turned-executive confirmed this on Twitter, as these things often are when the issue came up. However, he was simple and direct in saying “yes” to answer the question posed.
He didn’t address if he and Safran will only develop a project they will produce and Gunn will write and direct, or if the deal Michael B. Jordan had at the last call is still in play. Through his Outlier Society label, Jordan agreed to bring Static and other characters to the screen for Warner Bros., implying Milestone adaptations were his playground.
We also don’t know if these hypothetical takes on the 90s imprint will be Elseworlds or animated as the questioner specifies, but Gunn is liable to adapt any and all Milestone characters from Static to Icon and Rocket. That will be the case, of course, if he is serious about dipping into that corner of the DC vault.
If his urgency to make something out of Creature Commandos and The Centre (aka Dinosaur Island), according to rumors about the latter, are any indication, then everyone should keep their hopes high that Static will return to shock the world – and bring some allies with him. Virgil Hawkins earned himself a Kids WB animated series before joining the mainstream DC Animated Universe.
He was created by the late Dwayne McDuffie, Denys Cowan, Michael Davis, Derek T. Dingle, and Christopher Priest. Each man, a legend in his own right, founded Milestone Comics and made up the brain trust of the independently owned imprint that functioned under the DC banner. 30 years after its prime years, the line was relaunched recently to mixed results.