'Safety' Writer Lands Major Superhero Movie After Disney+ Biopic's Success

The screenwriter for the hit film Safety is entering the DC universe. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Randy McKinnon has been tapped to write Warner Bros. and DC's Static Shock. The new movie will be produced by Michael B. Jordan and Reginald Hudlin, who directed Safety.

Static Shock will be based on the DC Character Static, who made his debut in 1993. At the time, Static was distributed by Milestone Comics, a company that was founded by Black writers and artists and had distribution through DC. Ten years later, the character was revived through the animated series Static Shock, focusing on Vigil Hawkins, "a teenager who transforms into a superhero who gains electromagnetic powers after being exposed to strange gas." Static made its way onto DC Comics in 2008.

McKinnon is coming off of the success of Safety, which told the story of a Clemson University football player who raised his little brother on campus due to his unstable home life. The film debuted on Disney+ in December 2020 and earned an 80% score on Rotten Tomatoes. Safety stars Jay Reeves, Thaddeus J. Mixson, Corinne Foxx and Matthew Glave.

"I actually didn't know anything," Reeves said, who plays the Clemson player Ray McElrathbey when asked by reporters if he knew anything about the story. Going into it, I started my research as soon as I got the material. So, watching the YouTube videos, and then also I followed Ray before I even got the role. I followed him on Instagram just to get a little bit ahead. I really didn't know anything about it. I just dove in headfirst and got to know this fantastic story."

Safety was McKinnon's first feature credit. He was a staff writer on the Netflix horror series Chambers that starred Uma Thurman and is the creator and executive producer of the sports thriller Wild Rabbit, which is inspired by events from McKinnon's life. Wild Rabbit centers around a college sports star who suffers a career-ending injury weeks before draft day. He is then lured into the underworld of sports-enhancing drugs in order to take care of his family.

"Wild Rabbit is a deeply personal story that I have the great pleasure to be partnering with Hulu and 20th to bring to life," McKinnon said in a statement. "It was immediately clear that they both share and support my pursuit of creating elevated storytelling for diverse global audiences."