"Where the Rubber Meets the Road" is the ninth episode of the fourth season of Static Shock. It premiered on March 27, 2004. This episode is notable for its focus on Rubberband Man's battle with dyslexia, and the impact the condition has on his everyday life, both as Adam Evans and his superhero persona Rubberband Man.
Plot[]
Over at Adam Evans house, Richie and Virgil play a racing game on Adam's GameStation2. "Jeff Gordon can stay home tonight, folks. Virgil 'Speed Demon' Hawkins is burning up the track.", Virgil taunts his friend. Losing the game as he crashes his car, Richie complains that Virgil had an advantage due to his brand-new controller, but just then, the doorbell rings. Stretching into scene as he ties his tie, Adam informs the duo that Sharon is at the door. Virgil offers to trade his sister for Adam's game console, but Adam dismisses the notion as he invites his date upstairs. Richie compliments Sharon's "awesome" dress, and as the couple heads out Adam tells his guests they can hang out around the house as long as they'd like so long as they clean up before they leave.
Richie tells Virgil he's striking until he gets to use the game controller, and briefly looks around for something to read. Unable to find a book or a Magazine, he settles for a piece of Adam's fan-mail, but none of it is opened. Seeing another bag of fan mail across the room, Virgil notes that this seems odd. "Stretch Underarmstrong is a popular guy. You sure none of that mail was opened?"
Meanwhile, Adam and Sharon seat themselves on the outdoor patio of a restaurant across the street from Bank of US. Pushing in his dates chair, Adam seats himself as Sharon begins to check the menu. She runs her finger across the selections: Gut Buster Burgers, Five Alarm Nachos, Fish & Chips, and Famous Fried Chicken. Yet to make up her mind, Sharon asks Adam what he's going to order, but looking down at his copy of the same menu, the characters begin to morph into an illegible mess. What was once a list of delicious meals has become "Pe7 Eisueus Pfersun", "Loez Vteol Vnosch", etcetera. Unable to make an informed choice, Adam gives up and tells Sharon he'll have whatever she's ordering. Unaware of his problem, Sharon is enamored by what she believes to be a gesture of kindness. Embarrassed to tell the truth, Adam tells her it's because she has "such good taste."
At Alva Industries, a guard patrols the complex. Unbeknownst to him, nearby a Bang Baby has camouflaged himself as part of the sidewalk. Walking directly through the fence as his body splits around the metal poles, the bang baby makes his way inside and places a detonator on the front of an electrical junction box and blows a hole in the side of the building. This sets off the security alarm, alerting Edwin Alva up in his office that things are awry. Concerned that this may be a direct attack on the security mainframe, Alva demands his underlings deploy the defense bots and electrify the corridors. As the bang baby appears on a nearby monitor, he demands for that "creature" to be stopped.
Inside one of the buildings labs, the bang baby begins destroying machinery, but is met with resistance as a group of defense bots enter behind him. Reshaping his hand into a hammer, the bang baby dispatches them with ease as Alva watches the commotion from a monitor in the safety of his office. Perturbed, he offers double pay to whoever brings him the head of this bang baby.
Back at the restaurant, Sharon and Adam are enjoying their meals. Adam raises his glass to toast his date "who everyday makes me feel like a superhero." Suddenly hearing a crash, the couple's attention is diverted to the giant screens on the side of Bank US across the street. The screens, displaying a live feed covering the attack on Alva Industries, show the bang baby trashing more defense bots as he attempts to make his way back off the complex grounds. Unable to read the scrolling text for himself, Adam asks his date what it says at the bottom of the screen, covering his embarrassment by saying there's a glare obstructing his vision. "Live from Alva Industries complex, massive destruction by unidentified Bang Baby", Sharon reads. Better aware of the situation now, Adam morphs into his Rubberband Man persona, kisses his date on the cheek and excuses himself to go help.
Impervious to the guards weaponry at Alva Industries, the bang baby continues to wreak havoc. Finally identifying himself as Tarmack, "the living chunk of the biggest baddest road you'll ever drive on", he breaks into a lab containing "the fusion engine". Finally face to face with Edwin Alva, Tarmack lifts the businessman into the air, claiming he "shoulda hired a bouncer", only to be interrupted by the entrance of Rubberband Man. Shaping himself into a ball, Rubberband Man thrusts his body through the air, knocking over the villain. Not far behind their comrade, Static and Gear arrive on the scene zapping Tarmack before he could attack Rubberband Man. Frustrated, Tarmack runs across the room, and Alva demands the heroes to "Get him out of here." Annoyed with the businessman's tone, Static reminds him "we don't work for you". Still wanting to perform their heroic duties, Static and Gear attack with little-to-no results. Instead of the direct approach, the duo decides to poke fun at Tarmack's name, leaving an opening for Rubberband Man to try to subdue the villain from behind. However, Tarmack is able to raise his body temperature to extreme temperatures, and Rubberband Man quickly looses his hold. Throwing Alva across the room, Tarmack escapes the compound with the fusion engine in hand, sealing the door to the lab behind him. Alva informs the heroes that they can still stop him by pressing the override button on a nearby console and sealing all exits. Standing the closest to the device, Rubberband Man stretches over to take care of things, but the letters all begin to shift again. What once read "override" now says "eovdirre", "Unit one" reads "uton nei", and "Main Control" has become "loam rtniocn". Realizing he's taking longer than anticipated, Alva yells "hurry", Static busts out of the room to chase the villain, and Gear rushes over to the console to help. Unfortunately, the button was pressed too late, and as security doors close through the corridor, Static and Tarmack are separated on opposite sides of one of them. In the lab, Alva begins to berate Rubberband Man in front of Gear. "You elastic buffoon! Do you realize what your hesitation has cost me?" Gear steps in to ask what Tarmack stole, and Alva reveals that the fusion engine he stole is capable of generating enough power to wipe out Dakota.
Hiding out in an underground layer, Specs and Trapper reveal that Tarmack is doing their bidding. Upset with the notion that his role in their operation is as unsophisticated as being considered a "delivery boy", Tarmack slams the fusion engine onto a nearby countertop. Shocked at Tarmack's lack of care, Specs berates the bang baby, his derision being echoed more coyly by his partner, and continued as Tarmack counts his money. On his way out, Tarmack unveils that he's unaware of what it is he just stole, but the duos disdain for him remains apparent as they respond, "you wouldn't understand" and "think of it as a big boom box. With an extra big boom." Leaving the building and frustrated with the open display of doubt in his intelligence, Tarmack overheats a nearby dumpster and hurls it towards the doors from which he just exited.
Back at Alva Industries, Edwin Alva explains to Static, Gear, and Rubberband Man that the fusion engine is a "very compact, efficient", "highly experimental" nuclear reactor that is effectively "a source of endless energy", albeit unstable. According to Alva, "in the wrong hands it could start a chain reaction that would level several square miles." Static, upset that Alva would dare be careless enough to attempt this in the middle of the city, slams his fist on the table, almost ready to leap across it before Gear pulls him off. The two heroes ask Alva if he has any way to shut it down, and he tells them that he's downloaded the entire shutdown procedure onto a set of 3 mobile devices. Rubberband Man approaches the desk to grab one, and Alva, doubting his ability following the events from earlier, condescendingly points out to him what button to press to read the instructions. As the hero leaves, Static tells him he and Gear will call whenever they find anything.
Patrolling the skies of Dakota, Static and Gear discuss using Back-Pack to scan a list of research satellites for anomalous electromagnetic data to figure out a lead on the fusion engine. Upset that they have to clean up Rubberband Man's mistakes, Gear speeds ahead, but Virgil seems to be piecing together his problem.
Elsewhere in the city, Tarmack, Onyx, Puff, Shiv, and Carmen Dillo are all hanging out at a local dive bar. As Tarmack is shooting pool, Carmen approaches to ask him to spot a few bucks for some nachos. Excited to talk about his big score, Tarmack throws a few dollars at Carmen while bragging he got "a cool thousand bucks" for the fusion engine. Realizing Tarmack got played, Carmen laughs at him and informs that Alva's offering a million for its return. Carmen likens the ploy to giving Tarmack "a buck to go rob Fort Knox" for him. Annoyed that his intelligence is in question again, compounded with frustration that it must be true, he did get played, Tarmack lifts Carmen by his shirt collar, and sticks him to a rotating ceiling fan, prompting Carmen to hold his mouth shut as he becomes audibly nauseous.
Back at Adam's house, Rubberband Man plays the keyboard beautifully, as Static enters through a nearby window, telling him "remind me never to hire you to DJ a dance party." Rubberband Man responds that he's not in the mood and asks if Static's had any luck with locating the fusion engine. That not being the reason for Static's visit, he responds "let's talk about you." He places a newspaper on the keys in front of Adam and tells him there's a review of his new CD. Adam tells him that he doesn't read his reviews, to which Static asks "don't? or can't?" Adam reveals that he suffers from dyslexia. When he was younger, he was put in a special learning program where they showed him some techniques to deal with it like "changing words into something you can feel instead of look at." However, the learning process took patience, and Adam was never able to sit still as a kid, and so feeling dumb, Adam dropped out of the program. Static tells him he's not dumb, "look at what you've made of yourself. A hero, a famous musician [...] but you can't give in. You said you can read. It just takes some work. Do the work." Outside the window, Gear arrives and tells Static and Rubberband Man them Back-Pack's detecting a huge energy reading in Westwood Flats.
Returning to Specs and Trapper's underground lair, the pair are installing the fusion engine into one of their new inventions when suddenly, Tarmack enters, demanding a larger stake in the operation or else he'll return the engine to Alva and collect the million dollars. Without argument, the duo obliges and unveil The Disaster Matrix, a device that can be used to channel enormous energies to any section of Dakota, reducing it to rubble. "Or we can use it to derail trains, crack airport runways.", effectively holding the city for ransom, and making millions in the process. With Tarmack now clued in, Specs assaults him with an optical blast followed by Trapper binding him in vines protruding from the fingertips of his gloves. With his opponent now subdued, Specs unleashes another blast, but Tarmack is able to contort his body around it, ensuring the blast hits the fusion engine.
Arriving at Westwood Flats, Static, Gear, and Rubberband Man begin their search equipped with Alva's mobile devices. Rubberband Man rushes off into one of the buildings, blowing past a sign that reads "DANGER: CONDEMNED". Concerned for Rubberband Man's safety, Richie notes the sign to Static. Suddenly, the building begins to tremble as the blast from Specs has destabilized the fusion engine. Enraged at the other hero's perceived carelessness, Richie yells at him for not reading the sign. Cooling down, Gear leaves the scene as Back-Pack may have located the fusion engine. In private, Rubberband Man thanks Static for not telling Gear, but realizing his friend's dyslexia as nothing to be ashamed of, Static asks Rubberband Man "When are you gonna say something?"
Frantically trying to shut down the fusion engine, Trapper yells for Specs to unplug everything as he continues to hold Tarmack restrained. Interrupting, Static, Gear and Rubberband Man break into the room. Specs attempts to land an optical blast on the heroes, and a fight ensues. Seeing Specs outclassed, Trapper releases Tarmack and joins the fight. Now free, Tarmack grabs the fusion engine and flees. In hot pursuit, Rubberband Man stretches his way up through a nearby Subway station, locating Tarmack running through a shipyard. Once again taking the shape of a ball and hurling his body against Tarmack, Rubberband knocks the other Bang Baby into the water, the fusion reactor falling to the dock in the process. With a two-minute countdown before the engine reaches "lockdown", Rubberband Man pulls Alva's mobile device and press the button to read the instructions. Once again, the letters he reads are misshapened and out of order.
Meanwhile, Static and Gear have finished subduing Specs and Trapper who inform them that Rubberband Man went after Tarmack on his own. Back-Pack detects an energy leak, filling in the heroes that the meltdown timer is active. On the surface, Adam anxiously tries to focus on the words. "Gotta make this bigger. Do the work, Adam." Using his powers, Rubberband Man turns the words into something he can feel, imitating the symbols and lifting them out from his arm. With less than a minute left, Static and Gear emerge from the Subway station and head towards the docks. Gear remarks that he's hoping Rubberband Man got there in time to shut down the fusion engine, but knowing Adam's secret, Static remains concerningly silent.
Static and Gear subdue Specs and Trapper while Rubberband Man follows Tarmack as he escapes with the fusion engine. At the docks, Rubberband Man bounces Tarmack into the water, incapacitating him. Unfortunately, the engine's magnetic containment field was damaged, triggering a meltdown which will cause a massive explosion unless Rubberband Man completes the shutdown procedure in two minutes. On the final step, with seconds remaining, Rubberband Man has trouble reading the final word. Realizing that it was too long to be "clockwise", he rotates the fusion engine's aluminum collar counterclockwise and successfully shuts the device down with one second remaining on the clock.
Static and Gear arrive on the scene. Concerned Rubberband Man wouldn't have figured out the shutdown procedures, he expresses shock when the hero tosses him the fusion engine's magnetic core. "How did you...?" "I did the work."
In the final scene, Static flies down and tells the viewers how Rubberband Man would have never learned to read had it not been for the classes he took in school. Disguised as a lamp post, Rubberband Man morphs to join the conversation, telling the viewer that no matter how good someone's language skills are, they can still have trouble recognizing graphic symbols and letters. Offering an example, he tells them he has issues differentiating "b" and "d" because his brain perceives space differently. "To a dyslexic, 'now' can look like 'won'" "Or something else entirely." According to Rubberband Man, 25 million Americans have some kind of reading difficulty, with dyslexia being the most common. Static adds that it doesn't have to hold you back, as some of the world's most accomplished people, like George Washington, Thomas Edison, and Albert Einstein had dyslexia. Rubberband Man and Static inform the viewer that many schools have programs for dyslexia or can help point you in the right direction to find a program if they don't, ask a teacher or a parent. "Everyone can learn to read."
Background information[]
Home video releases[]
Production inconsistencies[]
- Right after Richie says he doesn't see a book, the camera pans further across the coffee table he's sitting in front of, revealing there's been a book in front of him the entire time. However, he still ignores it in favor of reading pieces of Adams fan-mail.
- Despite Alva's insistence that Tarmack can be stopped by sealing all the exits, there would still be at least one way out of the building. The hole he blew into the wall to enter.
- When Tarmack is playing pool, he's shooting with the 14 ball instead of the cue ball.
- When Alva discusses the theft of the fusion engine to Static, Gear, and Rubberband Man in his office, Gear's left glove disappears and reappears between shots.
Trivia[]
- Adam revealing that he could "never sit still as a kid" suggests he may have exhibited other neurodivergent traits than just dyslexia. 30% of people diagnosed with dyslexia also have ADHD diagnoses,[1] and the symptom of one condition tends to exacerbate the other.[2]
- Specs' optical blast attack and hairstyle resemble Cyclops from X-Men Evolution. Both shows debuted on Kids WB!'s Fall 2000 season[3] and ran on the network through 2003 when X-Men concluded.
- Despite Thomas Edison being among the list of "the worlds most accomplished people" with dyslexia, Dwayne McDuffie wasn't a large fan and has suggested that a character that appeared in this very episode, Edwin Alva was named after Thomas Alva Edison for his propensity to "[use] other inventors' labor."[4]
- While Tarmack's abilities and appearance resemble Clayface, and Magma of the Terrific Trio, the Bang Baby is a pre-existing character from Milestone Media's comics, first appearing in Static #2.
- This episode marks the final appearances of Rubberband Man, Specs, and Trapper.
- At the end of the episode, Static and Rubberband Man break the fourth wall to educate the viewers on dyslexia; this is the second Static Shock episode to have a character do so. Static also did it in "Jimmy" to raise awareness of the dangers of guns in the vicinity of children.
Cast[]
Uncredited appearances[]
Quotes[]
Gear: Voice command. Not bad. Backpack: Jam anything plotting coordinates. |
Rubber-Band Man: Sixteen letters, too big for clockwise. So it must be... Counterclockwise! |
- ↑ ADHD and Dyslexia: How to Tell Them Apart
- ↑ The Dyslexia and ADHD Connection
- ↑ All-New “Pokemon GS,” Plus New Series “Jackie Chan Adventures,” “X-Men Evolution” And “Static Shock!” Highlight New Saturday Morning Schedule For Ratings King Kids’ WB! - WB Press Release
- ↑ DCAU Resource - Dwayne McDuffie Quotes Archive