It’s no secret WB/DC films are planning to expand their repertoire when it comes to characters and their big screen appearances. As stated in the New York Times article Walter Hamada is looking to release 4 films a year to big screens while also populating HBO Max will smaller budget features. That article also mentions Static Shock would be headed to HBO Max as a feature, something we learned was in development during DC’s Fandome event.
It appears Static isn’t the only Milestone Comics character we could see headed to Max or the big screen. Daniel Richtman also mentioned Icon was another Milestone character DC is looking to develop into a feature and this could be the rumored “Superman” pitch Michael B. Jordan was attached to 2019 per Variety. Icon is Arnus Terminus an alien who crash lands in the deep south in 1839, and becomes a slave, then joins the union army and eventually becomes a lawyer. Icon’s powers are similar to Superman’s as he poses super strength and invulnerability but also doesn’t appear to age and thus had to hid this fact by proclaiming to be his own son. This complex character offers a variety of storytelling options while also delving into American history which seems to be a popular theme nowadays ala Watchmen and Lovecraft Country.
Now for the new stuff, when we were looking into the Icon story a source close to GWW also indicated that Rocket is another character WB is looking to develop and introduce as part of there Milestone push. When the Icon news broke, many fans speculated Rocket would play a role as well and this appears to be the case as WB is looking to develop a feature around her as well. Rocket is directly tied to Icon as she is actually the one who encourages him to come out of hiding to become a superhero, and Icon is the one who imbibes Raquel Erwin with super powers via an Inertia Belt. So tying this two together is definitely a logical step for the studio especially when creating a grand narrative around these Milestone characters. Both characters where created by legend Dwayne McDuffie and most recently appeared in Young Justice.
While not a Milestone character we also heard from the same source that backed up something Richtman also teased and that is Black Lightening is another superhero WB is looking to revive for a feature film. This could explain the CW show’s abrupt cancellation as the studio has a tendency to not want to share certain characters/storylines across mediums.
Source: NYT/Variety/Daniel Richtman