We start with Jack Knight arriving back in Opal City. He's the kinda guy who's more comfortable in the past than the present. He arrives late and misses the rededication ceremony of the Starman statue, commemorating the past seventy years (give or take) of Starman. He unpacks his stuff and begins to reopen his store. The story is like this: Jack Knight went to community college while opening his own curio store. Eventually, he closed it down and transferred his credits to an out-of-state college. Now he's coming back home with a diploma.
Jack and his older brother, David Knight/Starman, meet up in the Knights Past.
INT. KNIGHTS PAST EVENING
A modest curio store, packed with the stuff of the true believer. Jack lovingly adjusts a wooden Indian so that its facing the door, just as DAVID KNIGHT walks in. Theres a definite family resemblance, which makes sense, as David is Jacks older brother. Hes dressed in the regalia of Starman and looks (lets be honest) a little ridiculous.
DAVID: Hi.
JACK: (re: Indian) How.
DAVID: You missed the dedication.
JACK: Therell be another one next decade. Cmon, you used to hate when dad dragged us to those kinds of things.
DAVID: We were kids then. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
On the mention of childish things, Jack winces.
JACK: Was that a dig?
DAVID: Youre a little oversensitive.
JACK: And you arrived just in time to not help my unpack.
DAVID: Sorry. Chemical fire.
JACK: Well, I could still use some help taking the Ms out of storage.
He opens up a box with a switchblade. David picks it up and hauls it around as Jack takes out items and puts them on the appropriate shelves.
JACK: So, hows dad?
DAVID: A bit more dad than usual. He missed you, you know.
They eventually get into an argument. David yells that running an antique shop isn't saving the world and Jack says neither is dressing up in pajamas and fighting other idiots in pajamas. David storms out and Jack angrily lights up a cigarette. Hold the silence for a few moments. A gunshot rings out. Camera switches from calm, reassuing Steadicam to jittery handheld. After calling 911, Jack runs out to find David lying on the ground, dying. A car honks and its radio plays Little Anthony And The Imperials. "Hurts So Bad." David dies in Jack's arms. His last word is "'51." We'll never know what it means (well, those who aren't in the know won't know).
At the hospital, David is pronounced dead on arrival. Jack signs for his effects. The pen is just about out of ink. That just about takes everything out of him. Jack lugs the cardboard box full of David's possessions back to the shop and throws it in the small vault for money-tending. He can't even bring himself to look at it.
At the funeral, Jack talks with his father, Ted. Jack blames Ted for pushing David into being Starman. They fight and Jack goes home, feeling ragged and run-down. The next day, he's running his shop. Trying to get a handle on things. Then KYLE walks through the door.
KYLE: Hi. I was looking to buy a rifle.
JACK: This isn't a gun store. Sorry.
KYLE: You're sure? No antique Colts or whatever?
JACK: No, I don't have a license.
KYLE: That's a shame. I'm looking for a new Winchester Model 70. Because, you see, when I shot your brother, the old one jerked just a little bit to the left...
Jack throws up the counter bar, knocking Kyle away long enough to flee. Kyle stalks him through the store at gunpoint, never quite able to get off a good shot. Finally, Jack stumbles over David's personal effects. The cosmic rod is still inside (Ted asked for Jack to give it back at the funeral). Unable to figure out how it works, Jack simply uses it as a blunt instrument. He and Kyle wrestle for control of both it and the gun. Finally, Jack manages to touch a control on the rod, blasting Kyle backwards at full force. Kyle hits the walls and his insides go squish.
JACK: Oh God, I didn't mean... I didn't want... you killed my brother!
He sees Kyle reaching for the gun weakly. Kicks it away.
JACK: Why?
KYLE: For an antique dealer, you sure don't know much about history. Sins of the father, Jack.
JACK: Who sent you?
KYLE: Opal City is already ours...
He dies from massive internal hemorrhaging. Jack is taken to the police station, where he's quickly freed. The police are more than happy to accept his explanation and ask if he's going to become the new Starman. "You didn't need the old one," is his answer.
That's when word of his son Kyle's death reaches the Mist, Ted's old nemesis. He orders the plan to immediately go to Phase 2. Explosions rip through the whole of Star City. The police station is hit hard. Jack grabs the cosmic rod from evidence and uses it to clear debris. His cell phone rings. It's Ted. Armed men are attacking the Knight house and they're after the cosmic rod technology. Fingers white-knuckled on the cosmic rod, Jack says "Help is on the way."
The commissioner asks how his men will be able to tell Jack apart from the army of looters and freaks that are ravaging the city under the Mist's command. At a loss, Jack sees a timeline of badge designs from the Old West to modern day. He grabs a sheriff's badge and pins it on the lapel of his coat.
The rest of the film plays out over the single night of chaos, with Jack and the Shade and the O'Dares trying to stop the Mist from using Ted Knight's technology for a sinister plot. Think of it as "Starman: Day One" or Strange Days with superpowers (and with an aristocratic immortal British ex-supervillain instead of Angela Bassett). I know that it's a bit untrue to Robinson's vision to turn Mist back into the scheming mastermind (and I don't know if there's a satisfying way to fit Nash and her whole arc into the three-act structure), but bear with me.
Hunter RiderRonin
Lily Adler#forthecontent! 📹 (she/her)
SwordOfMorningSuper Moderator
