Blue Beetle II

BLUE BEETLE (post-Flashpoint)

Real Name: Ted Kord

Class: Parallel Earth (Earth-4) human technology-user

Occupation: Superhero, business man

Group Affiliation: Pax Americana

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Washington, D.C. (Earth-4)

First Appearance: Captain Atom #83 (Charlton) (November, 1966)

Powers: Blue Beetle relied on technology for crime busting. His bug, an aircraft shaped like a beetle, was his primary means of transport and offense.

History: (The Multiversity: Pax Americana #1) - Blue Beetle was a crime fighter, inspired by the OSI sponsored cold war hero Dan Garrett, and he regularly teamed with the vigilante Question. In 2008, President Harley, inspired by his father’s love of superheroes and his work on Major Comics, decided that America needed costumed heroes, and recruited Beetle and Question to be part of his super team Pax Americana. Blue Beetle was thrilled, and hoped to make a fortune on the endeavor. He thought the Sentinels or the Law would be a better name for their team, but was shot down. In NYC Harley announced his team to the world, and debuted Captain Atom, Earth’s only superhuman, who created three towers where the twin towers once stood. Question and Beetle busted crime together, and the Question shook his partner by force feeding a drug dealer an overdose of heroin. Question, a maverick as always, split with Pax and went rogue, more concerned with investigating the deaths of Yellowjacket, the world’s first costumed hero, and Nora O’Rourke than following government orders. Question discovered Algorithm 8, a key to the multiverse, and was pursued by Blue Beetle. After an intense chase the Question used a giant magnet to contain the Beetle’s bug craft. He told Beetle he’d compromised, and by following government orders he was less of a man.

Comments: Created by Gary Friedrich & Steve Ditko.

Blue Beetle and Pax Americana were featured in the Earth-4 entry in The Multiversity: Guidebook #1

The characters of Watchmen were originally intended to be the Charlton Comics heroes, recently acquired by DC. When Alan Moore was unable to use them due to editorial decree, he created analogs. The story of Pax Americana is a homage to Moore’s work, with the cast of Watchmen now replaced by the aforementioned Charlton characters.

BLUE BEETLE II

Real Name: Theodore "Ted" Kord

Class: Human technology-user

Occupation: Superhero, research scientist, Chairman of the Board of KORD, Inc.

Group Affiliation: formerly Justice League America, L.A.W., Superbuddies

Known Relatives: Jarvis Kord, (uncle), Thomas M. Kord (father), unnamed brother, unnamed mother (deceased)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Chicago, Illinois, formerly JL Embassy, New York City, NY

First Appearance: Captain Atom #83 (Charlton) (November, 1966)

Powers: Blue Beetle was an intelligent businessman and a brilliant inventor. He was a decent fighter and acrobat until he developed a heart condition that curtailed both abilities. He was armed with the BB-gun, which shot compressed air or strobe-lights that blinded opponents. His primary mode of transportation was the Bug, a solar powered vehicle that could travel by sea or air and contained highly advanced weaponry and a state-of-the-art entertainment system.

History: (DC Countdown #1 (fb, BTS)) - At the age of thirteen Ted Kord used his new laptop to hack into the U.S. Defense servers. It didn't take long for the feds to break into Ted's house and interrogate him, but young Ted was lucky enough to avoid any jail time.

Ted Kord worked in a research facility given to him by his father after he proved that he had a head for business and invention. He worked for his uncle Jarvis, who disappeared one day under mysterious circumstanced. Ted learned that Jarvis was holed up on Pago Island, where he was building an army of androids to conquer the world. Ted and his old college professor Dan Garrett traveled to Pago Island to stop Jarvis. Jarvis attacked the duo with his androids, but Garrett revealed himself as the superhero Blue Beetle and defeated Jarvis and his army, though he was mortally wounded in the process. Blue Beetle made Ted promise he would carry on his legacy before he died. Ted returned to work, where he developed weaponry for a war on crime, and started training his body towards the same aim. Thus the new Blue Beetle was born, and he had an adequate career, battling injustice either by himself or as a member of the Justice League.

(Green Lantern III #1) - Green Lantern visited Blue Beetle and the Justice League and they offered him a spot on the team, despite Guy Gardner's objections. Lantern turned them down, telling them he was trying to get away from superheroics and reconnect with his human side.

(Green Lantern III #4) - Beetle and the Justice League investigated the disappearance of Evergreen City from the face of the Earth, but couldn't come up with any leads.

(Green Lantern III #25) - Beetle and the Justice League were on hand to watch Hal Jordan and Guy Gardner battle to determine who'd become Earth's one Green Lantern. The League initially wanted to interfere, but the Green Lantern Corps held them back, saying the fight was necessary Corps business. Hal won, and the Justice League rejoiced. Beetle was so happy Guy wouldn't be in the Justice League anymore that he proclaimed he must have died and gone to Heaven.

(Green Lantern III #33) - Hal Jordan left the mentally confused Arisia in the care of Beetle and the Justice League until she could be taken back to her homeworld of Graxos - IV.

(Showcase '93 #3) - Blue Devil and his alien friend Morty escaped the planet of Maldor using a teleportation tube that sent them to the Justice League hq. They were confronted by Guy Gardner, who was none too happy about their arrival. Guy didn't like Blue Devil's demonic look, leading to a fight between the Justice League, including Blue Beetle, and Blue Devil. The Ironmongers of Maldor pursued Blue Devil and Morty through teleportation, and when they engaged the Justice League in combat Blue Devil and Morty took the opportunity to escape. The League defeated the Ironmongers, who teleported back home, and Beetle used his bug to track down Devil. Devil was battling the Ironmongers compatriot Blacksmyth, and when Blue Beetle interfered he was nearly blasted by Blacksmyth's furnace, but Blue Devil took the brunt of the attack. Blue Beetle woke up and found them both gone, but he realized Blue Beetle was definitely one of the good guys.

(Guy Gardner: Warrior #17) - Guy Gardner showed off his new costume and superhero identity Warrior to Blue Beetle. Beetle said everyone wanted a new costume these days, but he still thought the classic Beetle costume suited him. Guy agreed, calling it ‘dorky.’

(Guy Gardner: Warrior #18) - Guy’s power ring was on the fritz, so he went to see Blue Beetle about fixing it, but Beetle was out of his depth. Guy wanted superpowers, so Beetle let him borrow exo-armor that was the prototype for Booster Gold’s armor. Beetle tried to warn him that it had some bugs and could easily overheat, but Guy’s limited attention span kept him from listening.

(Final Night #1, 3) - Superman organized a summit of superheroes, including Blue Beetle, to listen to an alien named Dusk. She'd seen the Sun-Eater snuff out the sun of countless planets, and she was there to warn the heroes that the Sun-Eater was headed towards Earth. The heroes discussed different ways to deal with the menace. The Eater engulfed the sun, causing chaos and panic on the ground. Beetle was injured dealing with the panic, and treated at Warriors, which Guy Gardner had converted into a command center and hospital.

(Green Lantern III #81) - Coast City; Beetle was among the heroes who attended a memorial service for Green Lantern Hal Jordan.

(DC One Million #1, 2) - Beetle was among the heroes that helped deal with the nuclear holocaust in Montevideo, Uruguay caused when Vandal Savage launched and detonated a Rocket Red suit at the country. Beetle was joined by a number of other heroes, including Justice Legion A from the 853rd Century, who were also dealing with the Hourman Virus created by the future Vandal Savage that was infecting minds all over Earth.

(JLA #27) - Beetle was called in as a JLA reservist to battle Amazo. Amazo was programmed to acquire the powers of the JLA, so when Beetle and a number of other heroes temporarily joined the JLA to battle him it just made Amazo more powerful. Amazo decimated the JLA reservists, and was only defeated when Superman officially disbanded the JLA, leaving Amazo powerless.

(JLA #38, 39, 41) - Beetle was among the legion of heroes summoned by the JLA to quell worldwide outbreaks of warfare that were incited by Mageddon. Beetle helped build the anti-war ray, a device that gave all of humanity the ability to resist Mageddon’s urgings for them to destroy each other, as well as temporary superpowers so that they could all help fight Mageddon.

(JLA #58) - Beetle was among the number of heroes defeated by the White Martians invading Earth. The Martians were eventually driven off by the JLA.

(JLA: Our Worlds at War #1) - On President Luthor's request Guy, Blue Beetle and Booster Gold went to Krasnoyarsk, Russia to battle an Imperiex Probe that had landed on Earth to hollow out the planet, but the battle went badly for the heroes.

(Identity Crisis #1, 5, Flash II #215) - Beetle was among the number of heroes who attended Sue Dibny’s funeral. Afterwards heroes broke into teams to look for suspects in Sue’s murder, and Beetle, Booster Gold and a crew went looking for Heat Wave. They interrogated him, and he told them he knew nothing, and reminded them he was a reformed villain. When they continued badgering him his ally Pied Piper put them to sleep with his pipes.

(DC Countdown #1 (fb, BTS)) - Hawkman found Blue Beetle I's scarab, previously thought destroyed, in an Egyptian temple, and handed it over to Blue Beetle. Beetle saw the scarab as an opportunity to upgrade his powers, but couldn't get it to work for him.

(DC Countdown #1) - Oracle told Beetle someone siphoned off twenty million from Kord Universal, and used Wayne Enterprises to send it to several dummy corporations, leaving Beetle almost broke. Beetle talked to Batman because Wayne Enterprises was also being manipulated by whoever stole Beetle's money, but Batman, who never took Beetle seriously, sent him away. Someone broke into a Kord warehouse and stole the kryptonite from Supergirl's arrival on Earth that Kord Universal had been contracted to collect and dispose of, so Beetle had Oracle call in some favors and had a number of superheroes investigate the scene. Their investigation turned up nothing, but afterwards the Madmen attacked Beetle. He fended them off with the help of Booster Gold, who told Beetle he'd help him in his inquiries. When they tried computer hacking to get leads a lightning bolt struck Beetle's home, severely injuring Booster. Beetle noticed the original Blue Beetle's scarab glowing, and used it to go to the Rock of Eternity where he met Shazam. Shazam warned him difficult times were coming from the world, but Beetle would not be involved in the forthcoming crisis, and took away the scarab. Beetle had no luck getting the JLA to aid him, he was once again blown off. Only Wonder Woman told him she had faith in his mission. After discovering the Madmen had planted a tracking device on him, he traced the signal to Checkmate's hq in the Swiss Alps and broke in. He discovered Checkmate had extensive files on every hero on Earth, including everyone's secret identities. Beetle was confronted by Checkmate's clandestine leader, his old friend Maxwell Lord, who was behind all his recent troubles. Lord wanted to have control over the world's population of metahumans to save the human race from itself and asked Beetle to join Checkmate. Beetle adamantly refused, so Lord shot him in the head, killing him.

Comments: Created by Gary Friedrich & Steve Ditko.

In the pre-Crisis on Infinite Universes DC Universe Blue Beetle lived on Earth-4.

Blue Beetle was originally published by Charlton Comics, which DC obtained the rights to in 1983.

Blue Beetle received profiles in Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #3, Who's Who Update '87 #1 and Who's Who in the DC Universe #4. Beetle received profile in JLA-Z #2 under the JLA (“The International” Era) entry. He received a profile in Who’s Who in the DC Universe #7 under the Justice League America entry.

Blue Beetle had cameos in Green Arrow III #54, JLA #117, 119, Justice League of America II #7 and Tales of the Sinestro Corps: Superman-Prime #1.

In Martian Manhunter II #24 Martian Manhunter told a story about Beetle, the JLI and his addiction to choco cookies. This may have been part of Beetle’s history, but more than likely it was just an anecdote Martian Manhunter found funny.

Sandman II #2 showed an image of Blue Beetle when Dream thought about his upcoming visit to the Justice League.

Blue Beetle was pictured on a list of possible candidates for a position in the Power Company in Power Company #10.

In Bizarro Comics #1 Mr. Mxyzptlk beamed information about all of Earth’s superheroes into Bizarro-Superman’s mind, hoping to teach him how to be a proper hero. Afterwards Bizarro had images of various heroes, including Blue Beetle, wandering through his head.