Rick Stone (comics)

Milestone & DC Universes

Longtime best friend of Virgil Hawkins, alias superhero Static, Rick Stone attends Ernest Hemingway High School same as Virgil Hawkins, Daisy Watkins, Frieda Goren and Larry Wade.

Throughout the original comic series of Static, Rick showed signs of being gay and he was also constantly being made fun of by their other friend Chuck because of it. In the comic's very first issue, he is introduced on the receiving end of a gay joke from Chuck about his performance at a school assembly. In issue #15, Virgil and Chuck talk about a comic book character named "Captain Thunder". Chuck says the character is gay, but Virgil disagrees and tries to get Rick to side with him; instead of agreeing with Virgil, Rick says "He is kind of a boy scout", probably to avoid seeming gay to Chuck again.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

Later Chuck makes another gay joke about Rick calling him "Richard the pink, knight of tutu". Rick tries to make a serious response, but before he can make his point, Chuck makes another joke and laughs with his friends Felix and Larry. Virgil remains silent and doesn't try to help Rick out. One day when Virgil goes on patrol as Static, he hears someone call out for help; he then sees Rick next to a boy who is unconscious. Static asks Rick what happened, and Rick says it started out with a gay bashing by some local gang.^{[7][8][9][10][11][12]}

After flying the boy to a hospital, Rick tells Static that he is going to a gay teen support group and implies that he is attracted to another boy of his age. Later, Rick shows up to school with his face bruised. His friends ask him what happened and he says that he was gay bashed; he tries to get their support in planning a teen support group for gay rights. The scene carries into the next issue with Rick leaving after Chuck tries to turn it all into a joke.^{[13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24]}

Virgil doesn't help matters when he tells Rick that he "should've kept the secret to himself". Virgil and Rick's friend Frieda calls Virgil to talk to him about his homophobia and to try to help him understand. Eventually Frieda, her friend Daisy Watkins, and Rick go to a gay rights convention together.^{[25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36]}

The New 52

Although Static appears in the pages of The New 52 initiative, his friend Rick never appeared in those comics.

Milestone Forever

Static appears as a major character in the 2010 limited series Milestone Forever, a project designed to detail the final fates of the Milestone launch characters prior to being assimilated into DC's continuity. In this possible future, the reader first learns that Virgil is attending his ten year high school reunion, and has given up his life of crime-fighting as Static and is now pursuing a career in medicine. Rick (now going by "Richie", just like his television version on Static Shock) is now working as a director in Los Angeles and is open about his homosexuality.

Rick Stone

Rick Stone is a gifted student at Ernest Hemingway High School that he, Virgil, Daisy Watkins and Frieda Goren all go to. Rick has an interest in science and technology; he's shown to be a good and talented inventor as well as a natural mechanic.

Gear

In the TV show Static Shock, Rick (as "Richie Foley") became exposed to the same kind of molecular gas from the "Big Bang" event which also gave Virgil his electromagnetic powers as Static, and decided to join him in his crime-fighting adventures as Gear.

Rick/Richie's powers included a considerable boost in his brain capacity, and made him a strong technopath and cyberpath. He became a high-level genius with the ability to manipulate and control technology with his mind; also as being an expert in gadgetry, robotic science & engineering which allowed him to build his own devices and hardware which he all of them controlled by using his technopathy and made him a formidable opponent in battle.

Push

When he was transformed by Ragtag into "Push", Richie could manipulate gravity and create fields around himself, but it was only temporary and needed to keep going back to Ragtag so he could be given more power.

Television

• Rick Stone was renamed as Richard "Richie" Osgood Foley in the DC Animated Universe TV series, Static Shock. The series creators did this because, Richie's character was based on Rick Stone, Virgil's best friend in the comics, who is gay. However, since his sexual orientation could not be explored within the context of a children's television series, it was not addressed, although his creator Dwayne McDuffie stated that this version of him is really gay.^[37] He also commented on his transformation into Gear because "it became difficult to work Richie into stories, without having him order Static around all the time over the Shock Vox" and positive fan response to him as a reason for improving ratings and adding third and fourth season of the show. Richie was voiced by Jason Marsden. Richie is aware of Virgil's secret identity in the show, in contrast to the comics where he never learns about his double life; in comics it is Virgil's other friend Frieda Goren, but in the show is opposite. Richie encourages Virgil to use his powers and become a superhero in Dakota City. Initially becomes jealous on his powers and begins working for superhuman gangster named Ragtag and his gang. Ragtag gives him ability to manipulate gravity and becomes a superhero named "Push", but his powers become temporary and is forced to help in his criminal activities in exchange for continued use of his powers. Eventually, Virgil intervenes to help him in defeating Ragtag and pulling out Richie's powers so as not to become addictive to them. Richie wasn't present during the "Big Bang", but Static's clothes still carried some of the gas with him and when Richie smelled them he soon developed powers himself, but they remained dormant until season three. His powers as Gear are superhuman intelligence, having invented a number of weapons and devices for Static and himself to use in crime-fighting. His superhuman intelligence also comes with the power of technopathy where he can use his helmet and Back-Pack which he also invented.
  • Both Gear and Static appear in the third season two-part crossover episode "A League of Their Own". They are called by Justice League to repair the Watchtower who suffered extensive damage from cosmic string. Unknown to them, the power outage enabled Brainiac to infiltrate in station's computer system. He begins to occupy all systems in Watchtower. When Static and Gear alerted Justice League for help, Brainiac takes control of Richie to once more recreate his body and mission. Static and the Justice League were able to fry his hardware temporarily, allowing Richie to be freed and for Brainiac's base to self-destruct.
  • In the fourth season episode "Future Shock", it is revealed that in the 40-year future timeline of Batman Beyond both Gear and Static are still active as heroes and are now members of the Justice League. It is also shown that Gear put on some weight, which is quickly noticed by Static's time-traveling younger self; after returning to his present time, Static suggested to him to "lay off the fries".