STARGIRL Casts Joel McHale as Starman

There's a Starman waiting in the sky.

Variety is reporting that the upcoming DC Universe series Stargirl, based on the DC Comics superhero, has cast Joel McHale as Sylvester Pemberton, better known to DC fans as the Star-Spangled Kid and later Skyman.  However, it seems in this series, Pemberton will be a version of the "Golden Age" Starman.

According to the article, Starman will be a recurring character in the series and is described as "a courageous and confident superhero, Starman is a member of the Justice Society of America.  He wields a mysterious anti-gravity weapon called the cosmic staff and has a longtime sidekick named Stripesy, who is better known as Courtney Whitmore’s stepfather, Pat Dugan."

Stargirl centers on Courtney Whitmore (Brec Bassinger), a high school sophomore who inspires an unlikely group of young heroes to stop the villains of the past.  The series comes from executive producers Greg Berlanti, Geoff Johns and Sarah Schechter, based on DC comic book characters created by Geoff Johns.  Johns, who created the character of Stargirl in 1999, inspired by his late sister, is also set to write the premiere episode and will serve as showrunner.

McHale, 47, is best know as Jeff Winger on the NBC/Yahoo! sitcom Community and as the host of the E! series The Soup.  In addition, he's appeared as Tad O'Malley on episodes of The X-Files, and in episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000, Drunk History, Rick and Morty, Sons of Anarchy, Pushing Daisies, CSI: Miami, and The Fugitive (2000).  His film appearances include Spider-Man 2, Spy Kids: All the Time in the World, Ted, and The Happytime Murders.

Created in 1941 by Jerry Siegel and Hal Sherman, Sylvester Pemberton first appeared in Action Comics (vol.1) #40 as a young man who became the Star-Spangled Kid in order to battle Nazi spies and fifth columnists during World War II.  He operated with an adult sidekick, Stripesy (a.k.a. Pat Dugan), and the two were both superb acrobats and had sufficient training in hand-to-hand combat.  They devised a series of acrobatic maneuvers that allowed them to build upon one another's strengths -- the Kid's agility and Dugan's prowess.  They also built the Star Rocket Racer, a bubble-topped limousine with the functions of a rocket and helicopter.

The Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy were members of the superhero team known as the Seven Soldiers of Victory as well as the All-Star Squadron.  The Seven Soldiers were lost in time in 1950 and rescued decades later by the Justice League of America and the Justice Society of America.  Aquaman, Wildcat and Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) rescued the Star-Spangled Kid, who was 50,000 years in the past and hiding in a cave so that his flu would not wipe out humanity.  Sylvester then joined the JSA, at which time a then-injured Starman loaned him his Cosmic Rod, wanting the young man to become his heir as neither of his sons expressed interest in carrying the mantle.  Soon afterwards, the Kid refined the technology of the Rod, devising a belt with similar powers, such as energy projection, flight and matter transmutation.

Eventually, Sylvester temporarily retired from superheroics to reclaim his inheritance and his father's business and movie studio Stellar Studios, from his corrupt nephew, who was using those funds to run his own evil organization, Strike Force.  In addition, he patched up his long-neglected relationship with Dugan and later became the hero known as Skyman after founding the superhero team known as Infinity, Inc.  During this period, he formed a partnership with the city of Los Angeles to commission the team as for-hire protectors.  He also purchased property to revitalize related movie production facilities.  He later confronted Solomon Grundy, who was under the control of the third Harlequin, Marcie Cooper.  During the incident, Solomon Grundy used the fatal touch of Mr. Bones to kill Skyman.

McHale will be the second actor to portray Sylvester Pemberton in live-action, after Jim Shield in the Smallville TV movie "Absolute Justice."

Stargirl is currently expected to debut on DC Universe sometime in August 2019.