Aliases: Daniel "Dan" Garett, Theodore "Ted" Kord, Jaime Reyes

First Appearance: Dan Garett: MYSTERY MEN COMICS #1 (1939); Ted Kord: CAPTAIN ATOM #83 (1966); Jaime Reyes: INFINITE CRISIS #3 (2006)

 

 

 

Over the course of a century, three different men from very different backgrounds have taken on the heroic mantle of the Blue Beetle, each making their mark in different ways. The original Beetle was an archeologist named Dan Garrett, who discovered an ancient Scarab in an old Egyptian tomb, which gave him super powers which he used to fight crime. He was succeeded by the brilliant Ted Kord, who had no powers to speak of, but carried on the Blue Beetle legacy with just his wits and his fists, along with a whole lot of gadgets, and a sharp sense of humor.

 

The most recent Blue Beetle is Jaime Reyes, a teenager from El Paso, Texas who bonded with Dan Garrett's Scarab, which gave him incredible alien armor with which he used to defend his hometown from all manner of metahuman criminals. A Blue Beetle has been a part of the Super-Hero community in the DC universe in some form since 1939, serving both as a solo adventurer and as part of teams like the Justice League and the Teen Titans, creating one of the greatest heroic legacies in the DC Universe. 

 

Golden Age

The original hero to use the name the Blue Beetle was Dan Garrett, who was an archeologist. One day while working on a dig in Egypt, he discovered a strange blue Scarab totem of unknown age and origin. The Scarab, later revealed to belong to the Pharaoh Kha-Ef-Re, granted Garrett incredible powers, which he used to escape a cave-in inside the tomb. Dan used these new powers to battle evil as one of America's "Mystery Men," the Blue Beetle, during the Golden Age of the 1940s. The scarab gave Garrett super strength, invulnerability, flight, the ability to project energy bolts from both his hands, and other enhanced senses. 

 

After years of costumed adventuring, Garrett became a professor of archaeology at a local university. One of his students was a young Ted Kord, who even in college was exhibiting signs that he was a technical genius. The pair formed a bond, and when Ted discovered his uncle Jarvis was in fact a criminal, he turned to Garrett for help in defeating him. Together, Dan and Ted were able to stop Jarvis Kord, but Dan Garrett died in the process. As he lay dying, Garrett asked Ted Kord to continue the Blue Beetle legacy, and passed the Scarab down to him. 

 

 

Silver Age

Ted Kord kept his vow to become the next Blue Beetle, but he soon discovered that the Scarab did not work for him. Nevertheless, Ted trained himself to become an expert fighter, and a got into prime physical shape. He also used his scientific genius to create a variety of crime fighting gadgets, and also made himself an advanced flying vehicle shaped like a large beetle, which he nicknamed "the Bug." Fashioning his own Blue Beetle costume, he soon established his own identity as a Super-Hero, and even without powers, came to eventually equal Dan Garrett. Operating out of Chicago, Ted took over his father's company, Kord Omniversal, and under his guidance, it became one of the top tech companies in the world.

 

 

Post Crisis

After the events of the 1984-1985's CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS, Ted let his father take over the company again, so he could focus on being a Super-Hero. He joined the newly formed Justice League International, where he quickly became best friends with his teammate Booster Gold. The two men had quirky senses of humor, and both were millionaires who had fallen on hard times. In addition, both heroes were not taken entirely seriously by the Super-Hero community at large, giving them something else to bond over. Together, this duo was given the nickname "Blue and Gold," and served on the League for many years, under the guidance of billionaire Maxwell Lord. 

 

When both heroes both received devastating injuries fighting the monster known as Doomsday, it signaled the beginning of the end of their time in the League. Blue Beetle would continue adventuring, but soon Ted took back control his company from his father, and soon he made Kord Industries a subsidiary of Wayne Enterprises. Entering into semi-retirement from his Blue Beetle persona, he still helped the team called the Birds of Prey, not only with funding, but also supplying them with technology. It was during his time helping out the Birds that he discovered that he had a heart condition, meaning he had to seriously limit the amount of costumed adventuring he could do. Still, he managed to go on adventure with L.A.W., the Living Assault Weapons.

 

One of Ted Kord's final acts was his discovery of a conspiracy that had grave implications for the future of the heroic community. Sifting through various clues that almost all of his former Justice League comrades ignored, he discovered that the Justice League International's former leader, industrialist Maxwell Lord, was behind a plot to catalog every Super-Hero's powers. This was all in an effort to control them, or ultimately eliminate them. When Ted confronted his old friend, he admitted he was behind the plot, but also offered him the chance to join him. When Ted categorically refused, he shot him in the head, killing him. 

 

Sometime later, his best friend Booster tried time travel to save Ted. But in erasing the timeline where he died, it began a butterfly effect that led to a terrible future. Realizing he was meant to die, Booster allowed Ted to return to the moment where Max shot him, and die as he was meant to. His body was later resurrected to become a member of the Black Lantern Corps during the BLACKEST NIGHT.

 

 

Post Infinite Crisis

Although Ted Kord had Dan Garrett's scarab, it never worked for him. He gave the Scarab to the wizard Shazam, who kept it in the Rock of Eternity. When the Rock was destroyed in the events of the Infinite Crisis, the scarab was sent to Earth, where it landed in El Paso, Texas. A Mexican-American teenager named Jaime Reyes found the Scarab in an old lot, while on the way home from school. Taking it home, that very night, the Scarab was activated, and grafted itself to the base of Jaime's spine. 

 

The Scarab gave Jaime a suit of armor that encased his body, giving him powers like enhanced strength. The armor also had technomorphy, which allowed it to form weapons, energy shields, an energy cannon, and can form other weapons like swords. The armor allows him to fly as well. On occasion, the armor takes over from Jaime, and he has to wrestle control back from the Scarab. 

 

After helping Earth's heroes during the Infinite Crisis, Jaime became the local hero of El Paso, and often came into conflict with his hometown's reigning crime boss, La Dama. During this time, he also joined the Teen Titans, and even accepted a chance to work with Ted Kord's best friend Booster Gold as part of the Justice League.

 

Jaime learned the truth about the Scarab, when he found out the Reach, a distant alien civilization of interstellar conquerors, had created the Scarab and left it on Earth. At first, the Scarab had been programmed to obey the Reach, and be in instrument of their collective will. It was also meant to take control of its host, establishing whoever wore the armor as Earth's defender, and then using the host to help them exert control over the entire planet. But over the course of the centuries the Scarab had spent on Earth, it had been infused with magic, a corruption which prohibited the Reach from fully controlling it. Now bonded with Jaime, it began to resist the Reach's programming. The Scarab now gave itself a name, Khaji Da, and together it and Jaime were able to defend the Earth from an invasion from the Reach.

 

 

New 52

After the events of 2011's FLASHPOINT, reality was altered, and the events that led Jaime to receive the Scarab were changed. It was now Jaime's friend Paco who discovered the Scarab when he and his friends saw the Scarab floating in the water in El Paso. When Paco went to check it out, it shocked him, essentially rejecting him as a potential host. The Scarab then attached itself to Jaime forcing him to become its new host body. 

 

Not understanding the Scarab, Jaime went to scientist and C.E.O. of Kord Industries, Ted Kord, for help. In the post Flashpoint reality, Ted had never been killed by Maxwell Lord, and instead just retired from heroics. Together the two learned of the Scarab's ties to the alien Reach. It was Ted who suggested that Jaime uses his new powers to help people, and ultimately, Jaime agreed. He then decided to succeed Ted as the new Blue Beetle, with Ted acting as his advisor and mentor, and occasionally, as tech support.

 

Each of the three men who have called themselves Blue Beetle have had very different powers and abilities. Dan Garrett was granted enhanced strength and invulnerability by the ancient Scarab, as well as the powers of flight, creating energy blasts from both his eyes and hands, and other enhanced senses. His chain mail costume also added extra protection. His successor Ted Kord never bonded with the Scarab, so he had no special powers. But he was an expert martial artist, and a tech genius. He created dozens of advanced gadgets to help him in his war on crime.

 

When Jaime Reyes inherited the Scarab, it gave him powers that Dan Garrett never dreamed of. It now encased Reyes in a suit of highly advanced armor, designed by the alien race called the Reach. The Reach's suit has a mind of its own, and not only allows for flight, but can emit powerful energy plasma blasts, connect with other machines, and even sense things outside of this dimension. It can also form all kinds of mele weapons at will. When Jamie is in danger, even if he doesn't know it, the Scarab will activate itself and emerge from his spine. The Scarab also allows its wearer to fly in the vacuum of space. Jaime Reyes believes the Scarab has other powers that have yet to be revealed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

"The New Blue Beetle" (CAPTAIN ATOM #83, 1966)

The second Blue Beetle, Ted Kord, made his debut as a back-up story in the pages of Captain Atom from publisher Charlton Comics. Given a distinct origin, costume and powers than his predecessor, this version of the Blue Beetle would only carry his own series for a brief few issues, but became a mainstay of the DC Universe a few decades later.

 

 

 

"Out From the Ashes" (BLUE BEETLE #1, 1986)

As detailed in 1984-1985's CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS, Ted Kord and the other heroes who originally were published by Charlton Comics existed on Earth-4. But when the Crisis folded all Earths into one, Blue Beetle officially became part of the mainstream DCU. He received his own series in 1986, and in his first issue, he took on the villain Carapax, who would later take away control of his company, Kord Industries. 

 

 

 

"Winning Hand" (JUSTICE LEAGUE #4, 1987)

After the events of the 1987 limited series LEGENDS, Blue Beetle joined the newly re-formed Justice League as a charter member. In the series' third issue, their benefactor Maxwell Lord arranged for a new recruit to join the team -- Booster Gold. The two snarky crime fighters immediately got along, cracking jokes together while fighting the bad guys, and a legendary friendship was born.

 

 

 

Going out a Hero (COUNTDOWN TO INFINITE CRISIS #1, 2005)

After being in semi-retirement for several years, Ted Kord discovered a vast conspiracy against metahuman heroes, a conspiracy he traced back to one man: the Black King of the organization Checkmate, who was the League's former financier, Maxwell Lord. When Blue Beetle refused to join with Lord, he murdered him in cold blood. But Ted Kord's death was the first domino falling leading to the catastrophic events known as the Infinite Crisis.

 

 

 

"Divine Intervention" (INFINITE CRISIS #3, 2006)

Not long after Ted Kord is murdered, a new Blue Beetle emerges, right in the middle of the chaos that was the Infinite Crisis. In the aftermath of a fight between several metahumans in El Paso, Texas, a young teen named Jaime Reyes discovers the ancient Scarab once belonging to Dan Garrett in an abandoned area. When it grafts onto his spinal cord, he becomes the third Blue Beetle, and joins the fight.

 

 

 

"Teen Spirit" (BLUE BEETLE #1, 2011)

Following the events of 2011's FLASHPOINT, Jaime Reyes origins are slightly different, and he now finds the Scarab separately from the events of any Crisis. Also, in this new reality, Ted Kord was never murdered, and serves as a mentor and father figure to Jaime.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• • Justice League International
• • Justice League America
• • Extreme Justice
• • Living Assault Weapons
• • Birds of Prey
• • The Super Buddies
• • Young Justice
• • Teen Titans
• • Black Lantern Corps

Film

Animation:

• • Justice League Vs. Teen Tians
• • Teen Titans: The Judas Contract
• • Teen Titans GO! To The Movies

 

Television

Main Character Appearances

 

Live Action:

• • Smallville

 

Animation:

• • Batman: The Brave and the Bold
• • Young Justice
• • Justice League Action

 

Video Games

• • Infinite Crisis
• • Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure
• • LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham
• • LEGO DC Super-Villains
• • Injustice 3