Hot-Streak

Superherobox|

caption=Hot-Streak in the animated series
character_name=Hot-Streak
real_name= Francis Stone
species=Human Mutate
publisher=Milestone Media
debut="Static #1
creators= Dwayne McDuffie
alliance_color=background:#c0c0ff
alliances= 5-Alarm Crew
aliases= F-Stop, Biz Money B
powers= Pyrokinesis; Fire manipulation|

Hot-Streak (otherwise known as Francis Stone) is a villain in the comic series "Static". Hot-Streak was Static's first enemy in both the comic book and television show, as well as indirectly responsible for Virgil's acquisition of super powers. Being a vicious bully, Hot-Streak was the leader of one of the gangs that participated in the Big Bang of Dakota.

Hot-Streak in the comic books

Francis Stone, better known as "Biz Money B", was the leader of one of the gangs in the Big Bang. He was the leader of a street gang called the "5-Alarm Crew". After becoming exposed to a mutagen at the Big Bang, Stone gained the abilities of pyrokinesis.

He is also indirectly responsible for Virgil Hawkins becoming the superhero Static; Hawkins had come to the Big Bang intending to kill Stone in the confusion, and, although he had realized he couldn't go through with the plan, Hawkins was still in the area when the mutagen was released, and thus gained powers of his own.

Hot-Streak was first introduced in the comic books bullying Frieda Goren in issue 1 "Trial by Fire, ch. 1: Burning Sensation". He intended to win her as a prize in a small skirmish between his gang and another; when Hot-Streak's boys attempt to get Frieda again, Static and Hot-Streak face off against each other, and Hot-Streak ends up defeating Static, after a shocked Static learns his previous identity. After confiding in a rescued Frieda, Static returns to defeat Hot-Streak.

Hot-Streak returns as an enforcer for the white supremacist group "Thor's Hammer" (ironic due to his preference for urban rap and slang) to disrupt a gay pride march. After a skirmish with Static, he is shot by Static's friend Rick (who had come out to his friends not long before). Hot-Streak appeared only in issues 1, 2, and 20, and in issue 31 in a flashback.

Hot-Streak in the animated series

In the series, Francis Stone was known as "F-Stop", not "Biz Money B". Hot-Streak appears in 11 episodes and is voiced by Danny Cooksey.

Early in his life, Francis Stone spent two years in a hospital. He has since developed a phobia of hospitals and doctors because he felt so helpless as a child.

Hot-Streak was the leader of one of the gangs in the Big Bang. He was also a bully who constantly beat up Virgil Hawkins at school. As in the comics, Virgil Hawkins' plan to kill Stone was instigated by one of the other gang leaders. (Unlike the comics, the other gang leader is "not" Virgil's friend—but Frieda's boyfriend, Wade.)

After being picked up by the police at the docks after the Big Bang, Stone and the other gang-bangers were taken to the hospital. The next day he burst into flames and blasted out of the hospital room. Hot-Streak later showed up outside a music store and tangled with a humanoid wolf, Bang Baby, in front of Virgil Hawkins, Richie Foley and Frieda Goren. Virgil escaped being burned up, returned as Static and confronted Hot-Streak, but Static hesitated and Hot-Streak would have killed him had it not been for the fire department. Later that episode, Hot-Streak terrorized people again in the park. Static and Hot-Streak fought again, and Static took down Hot-Streak by dousing him with a sewer main.

In the episode "Sunspots" early in the 2nd season, sunspot activity on the sun affected Static's electromagnetic powers at the same time that Francis "Hot-Streak" Stone had returned from jail. Hot-Streak went back to school on parole, after he learned "anger management" techniques. Virgil predicted that he would be back to his old-self after two days, and was proven correct. Hot-Streak surrounded Dakota Union High School in tall walls of flame, ('firewall'). Hot-Streak was again defeated when Static blasted a water tower, dousing Hot-Streak completely.

In "The Big Leagues", later in the 2nd season, Hot-Streak was recruited into a gang of meta-humans/Bang Babies by The Joker. Hot-Streak was taken down by Batman with a Batarang and a fire extinguisher, and arrested.

In "She-Bang" in the 3rd season, Hot-Streak went on another rampage at a movie complex because the movie he saw was lousy, but was easily taken down (and de-pantsed) by She-Bang, a superpowered test tube baby.

In "A League of Their Own, Part 1," Hot-Streak appeared briefly at the beginning of the episode, having teamed up with Puff, Onyx and Carmen-Dillo (dubbed "the Meta-Men" by Puff, who led them) to get some payback on Static and Gear, but were outnumbered by the Flash, Hawkgirl and Batman.

In "Romeo in the Mix," Hot-Streak was abducted along with other meta-humans/Bang Babies by the Leach who wanted to absorb Hot-Streak's powers along with the others. When the Leach was short-circuited, Hot-Streak and the others, as they were still depowered, were captured easily by Gear and were all taken back to jail.

In the 4th season, Hot-Streak appears in the episodes "She-Back!", "No Man's an Island", "Wet and Wild" and "Power Outage":

In "She-Back", She-Bang returned to team up with Static and Gear. Madelyn Spaulding, now with telekinetic abilities, broke Ebon, Talon and Hot-Streak out of jail. The criminal alliance being shaky due to Ebon and Spaulding vying for the group's leadership, Ebon, Talon, Spaulding and Hot-Streak were quickly picked off by Static, Gear, and She-Bang after an exhausting battle between the two leaders. The four were arrested and taken back to jail.

In "No Man's an Island", both Hot-Streak and Static were captured,along with Gear, Rubber Band Man, and Talon, and taken to a mysterious island for scientific experiments by Edwin Alva Sr. to restore a stone-trapped Edwin Alva Jr. to flesh, bone and blood. Hotstreak spends much of the time on the island handcuffed to Static, forcing the two to work together to free the other Bang Babies (although Hotstreak only wants to escape). When they are freed of the handcuffs, Hotstreak seemingly runs off and abandons the other Bang Babies, but returns and threatens Alva Sr. with his fire, saving Static and the others from Alva's guards. When Alva explains why he captured them, Static agreed to use his powers to save Alva Jr. Hot-Streak, not wanting to be outdone, also agreed. Alva Sr. was grateful and sent the meta-humans back to Dakota. Talon and Hot-Streak, who now had a hovercraft from Alva Sr., escaped.

In "Wet and Wild", Hot-Streak teamed up with Aqua-Maria, planning to crash the CD signing of a new singer, Candide. (It is hinted at in this episode that Hot-Streak and Aqua-Maria are romantically involved). Aqua-Maria was frozen and later agreed to be returned to normal with an untested possible cure. When Hot-Streak learned about this, he took action and sabotaged the procedure, and Aqua-Maria became unstable and went down a drain. Hot-Streak met her at a fountain and agreed to help her get revenge on the scientists she believes sent her down the drain. When she learned that Hot-Streak was the one to sabotage the experiment, she threatened to submerge all of Dakota in water; Hot-Streak, meanwhile, escaped.

In "Power Outage", Hot-Streak and other Bang Babies discovered that they had been exposed to the reversive cure for the Big-Bang Gas, and that they were thus losing their powers and reverting back to normal. In an effort to retain their powers, Hot-Streak and Ebon planned to steal what was left of the Bang Baby gas that was used in making the cure. But Hot-Streak and Ebon ended up fused together and were presumably stopped by Static but hinted that they may return...

Powers and abilities

In the comics Hot-Streak's powers are superspeed and the psionic ability to manipulate flame by channeling the friction he accumulated by moving at high speeds (the air friction he creates by his extreme speed allows him to generate intense flame; in the DC Comics-produced Milestone trading card series, it is called "Hyper-kinetic Pyrokinesis"). He is able to shape the flame as he desires, increasing or decreasing its heat, intensity, and size—hence the newly assumed handle of "Hot-Streak."

In the animated series, Hot-Streak's powers are exclusively the ability to manipulate fire. His powers seem to highlight the fact that Hot-Streak has a short-fused mentality and a fiery temper.

Hot-Streak's ability to control fire isn't limited to just throwing fireballs:

In "Aftershock," Francis Stone/F-Stop/Hot-Streak harnesses his pyrokinesis to fly rocket-style; in that same episode Hot-Streak uses his firepower to channel enough flame to act as a barrier to protect himself from Static's barrage of debris in the city park. In "Sunspots" Hot-Streak creates a 'firewall' to surround Dakota Union High School when he relapses back into his old 'habits' of using his powers; in that same episode, during the climax, Hot-Streak demonstrates the ability to use fiery constructs—he creates a sword-shaped fiery construct to use on a de-powered Static before Static douses him with a watertank full of water. In "The Big Leagues," Hot-Streak can generate and channel fire out of his hands, eyes and mouth. In "No Man's an Island," Hot-Streak harnesses enough of his meta-human pyrokinetic energy in conjunction with Static's to power a machine to restore Edwin Alva Jr. from his stone form back to life.