big bang

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This page is about the Milestone Comics event. For the Caliber Comics imprint see Big Bang Comics

The Big Bang is a Milestone Comics event published by DC Comics. The event was first chronicled in Blood Syndicate #1 by Dwayne McDuffie, Ivan Velez Jr. and Denys Cowan, and Static #1 (April 1993) by Dwayne McDuffie and Robert L. Washington III.

Publication history

The Big Bang is a significant event in the fictional history of Milestone Comics, in which many of the superheroes and supervillains of Dakota - including Static and the Blood Syndicate - got their powers. The concept was the brainchild of Christopher Priest, who cites African-American urban legends as the inspiration.^[1]

The event took place on Paris Island, which had long suffered from heated gang wars. In 1993, the leaders of each gang decided to settle their grievances once and for all in a massive "gang bang" confrontation dubbed the "Big Bang." Word of the confrontation eventually reached Dakota's police department. Mayor Jefferson ordered them to spray every gang member present with an experimental tear gas laced with a radioactive marker that would allow the police to track the participants down later. The mayor was hoping that this would boost her reputation for being "tough on crime."

However, the gas also contained a mutagenic compound called "quantum juice" (or "Q-juice"). Most of those exposed to it - police included - died on the spot. The rest mutated, some being deformed, some gaining unusual abilities in the process. The survivors were dubbed "bang babies." The mayor disavowed any involvement. The survivors went on to become superheroes and supervillains that continued to roam the city of Dakota for years to come. The survivors of two gangs - the Paris Bloods and Force Syndicate - formed the core of the Blood Syndicate, a gang of bang babies which claimed Paris Island as their turf.

In other media

In the animated series Static Shock, the Big Bang is described through a flashback narrated by Virgil. A confrontation between two gangs (one lead by the future Hotstreak, the other having called him out to protect Virgil, who is also on the scene) takes place in a restricted area on the docks. The fighting attracts the attention of the police, who arrive in helicopters and call for the gang members to drop their weapons. As the gang members run, one of them shoots out the helicopter searchlight. The police respond by throwing tear gas into the area. The canister hits several barrels of mutagenic gas, covering the area with the compound. The gang members and anyone else nearby (a common plot device in the show is introducing formerly unseen victims of the Big Bang) gain various powers from it and become known as "Bang Babies". It was later revealed that Edwin Alva Sr had planned for the Big Bang to go off.

In "Flashback", Ebon finds himself in the past and attempts to set off an earlier (and much larger) Big Bang during a previous gang war, in the hopes of having a much larger criminal empire to run upon his return. He is stopped by Static, Gear, and Timezone.

In "Power Outage", a cure for the mutagenic gas is developed and secretly administered to every resident in Dakota. This results in every Bang Baby, Static and Gear included, losing their powers. Ebon steals a sample of the gas used to create the cure, intending to use it to restore the powers of a choice few criminals. He and Hotstreak come to blows over the canister, breaking the seal. It's not made clear how many people were exposed, as the gas never escaped the ship and there were less than a dozen people present at the time. At the very least, Ebon, Hotstreak, Gear, and Static were exposed to the gas, returning their powers. Since the gas is set off inside the corridors of a ship, the concentration apparently boosts their powers as well. Ebon and Hotstreak overdose on the substance, fusing into a two-headed Bang Baby with the combined powers of both men. The creature is apparently killed by Static.

Notable bang babies

• Aquamaria
• Blood Syndicate
• Ebon (Static Shock animated series)
• Gear
• Hotstreak ("Biz Money B")
• Rubber-Band Man
• Static
• Talon (Static Shock animated series)

See also

• Metahuman

References