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Blue Beetle
SCARAB-UNGA, BABY! MEET THE BLUE BEETLE
With the live-action Blue Beetle movie release this month, it's time to unearth everything you need to know about the extraterrestrial phenom.
Dan Garret/ Dan Garrett
The original Golden Age Blue Beetle went by Dan Garret. Fox Comics created the superhero in 1939 as a police officer character who gets his superpowers from Vitamin 2X.
During the Silver Age of comics, Charlton Comics updated the character to be Dan Garrett, spelled with two T's, and gave him a brand-new back story. This version is an archaeologist who finds a scarab in Egypt which gives him his powers.
Ted Kord
The second Blue Beetle is Ted Kord, a genius inventor and athlete. He is the owner of Kord Industries, a company he grew to be as large as STAR Labs. As a member of the Justice League of America, he frequently teamed up with Booster Gold by using his bug-shaped aircraft to join in on the action. Ted's Blue Beetle is known to be charismatic, wise-cracking, and just a ton of fun to be around.
Jaime Reyes
The third, and most recent version of the Blue Beetle, is Jaime Reyes. We'll see him on the big screen in the new Blue Beetle movie.
Jaime hails from El Paso, Texas where he stumbles across the scarab that gives him his powers. The alien scarab fuses itself to Jaime's spine giving him the ability to use the armor suit when needed. Jaime is a young teenager in this series, but quickly becomes friends and allies with Booster Gold (Ted Kord's old partner) and joins the Teen Titans and the Justice League.
The Reach
The Blue Beetle's origin lies with the Reach, a hive-like alien race that conquers planets through high-tech scarabs that attach to host bodies and control them. The hosts become heroes of their planet at first but are then turned into "infiltrators". After becoming an "infiltrator", the host turns against their race and conquers them for the Reach. The Blue Beetle scarab was meant to be one of the "infiltrators", but the scarab became faulty and disconnected from the hivemind, becoming symbiotic with Jaime to be a power for good in the world.
A Symbio-tech Relationship
The scarab eventually chooses the name Khaji Da. "Khaji" meaning infiltrator, as it was supposed to be before it disconnected from the hive mind, and "Da" which was its serial number. Khaji Da provides Jaime with an amazing array of powers using its alien tech. You've probably seen the super suit it provides, which is basically an expandable exoskeleton that can protect the host from anything, including re-entering Earth's orbit after taking out a satellite. The suit can also create weaponry of all shapes and sizes including sharp blades, cannons, and grappling hooks. Khaji Da shows its own personality through its reluctance for harming nature or going into Infiltrator Mode to fight more aggressively.
What teams has he been on?
The Justice League
Teen Titans
Young Justice
Secret Six
WATCH THE MOVIE TRAILER
Like what you read? Then, check out the Blue Beetle movie trailer. Blue Beetle hits theaters on August 18th and stars one of our faves from Cobra Kai, Xolo Maridueña, as Jamie Reyes.